Your daily blog - interesting or otherwise

me and my two mates just came back to his house (the other came down from san francisco, flew free as hes a mechanic for the airline!) in south central LA from driving around here and there, compton, crenshaw, hollywood, redondo beach, venice beach-didn't really want to show up the guys at the outdoor gym on venice so i spared them the humiliation ......we'll eat then head out again, oh in a 5 litre mustang ragtop .....ate out at a 'hood' restaurant last night, fantastic food/atmosphere!.....tomorrow up early to take a run around the block a few times, this morning i was dead from jetlag .....then to the gracie gym in torrance maybe, just looking mind you,as if i had to say that (coward that i am!).....

My husband and I changed the front door knob and dead bolt. EXCITING! I know! Everyone, calm down my life can only pick up from here! The dead bolt is something to brag about. On the outside, there's a keypad that you can use to lock/unlock the door. Now how cool is that? Ok yeah still lame.

My husband was summoned for jury duty (everyone's favorite!). Take notes. I'm about to tell you how to get out of it. For all those who are going to start preaching about civic duties, don't bother I'm not going to listen. So everyone gathers in the jury room to be sorted to the appropriate courtroom. They break for lunch and at 1 my husband calls and says that he is heading back into the courthouse and that he would call as soon as he was done. The judge informs everyone in the room that the defendant has been charged with assault and murder and that he expected the trial to last about a week and a half. My husband looks square at the defendant and says, "OH HELL NO! You are too big of a pu$$y to take the plea and get the leathal injection, you'd rather get Bubba's big injection?" The bailiff tells my husband to STFU, the prosecuting atty is trying to keep from laughing, the def. atty is looking at my husband with his mouth open, and the judge tells my husband that he is excused. My husband calls me at 1:30 and says he's done.
"That was kinda quick, Dear."
He proceeds to tell me his story.
"UH-HUH? So are you heading home or are you going to be making another stop before coming home?"
"I'm going ot make another stop. Why?"
"Dear, are you walking out of the courthouse on your own free will and holding the phone with your hands or is the bailiff being nice and holding the phone to your ear?"
"Oh HAHAHAHAHA! No, no, no I'm not being held for contempt or anything like that. I'm going to stop by the bank on the way home. What did you think my stop was going to be? To fingerprinting?"
"Well Dear, it wouldn't surprise me."
So that's how you do it. I hope you took good notes!

Casey

I bought this new game, Hellgate: London.

Perfect.

Demons? check
London in ruins? check
Powerful guns? check
Swords? check
Demonological powers? check
4 litres of Erdinger? Check
5 packs of kettle chips? check

I'm going to have a nice day at home, hacking away at demons while me friends sissy out and snipe from afar, while mixing into that whole lot lots and lots of chips and beer.

-Taison out

I re-visited my Tai Chi broadsword form today in case it's wiped from my memory forever and ever...especially the names of each technique, without which the form has no soul.

Yesterday I noticed my purse contents were on the back floorboard of my car. I gathered everything up and brought it in the house (my purse was inside so I didn't put my stuff in there right away) I set everything down and started doing other things. Later that evening I try to find everything so I can rent a carpet shampooer from the grocery store. I realize I can't find my driver's license or my debit card. I figure no big deal, I'll write a check and write my DL# on the check. I get to the grocery store and they need 2 forms of ID to rent a carpet shamooer. At this point I don't have one so I leave and go back to the house. At this point the kids are saying that they are hungary. I didn't pull anything out from the freezer so I figured no big deal I'll look for my card and pick something up. I found out my daughter decided to take my purse contents and hide them somewhere in the house. Of course she can't remember where she hid them. So now I have to replace everything (medical ID cards, debit card, driver's license, college ID, my Coushatta gambling card, etc.). To top it all off, I have about 600 things to do today on top of getting things replaced. I now understand why some animals eat their young.

Casey

How is it that my neck is more sore today than it was yesterday, from my BJJ class on Tuesday? Oh wait - it's because my WHOLE DAMN BODY HURT so bad yesterday that my neck was just a blip on the radar.

Yeah, yeah, I know. I'll apply some ointment. -

I didn't practice my harmonica playing for one whole week; I feel soooo guilty.

Yeah! That reminds me. I haven't really played keyboards for over a year now. But I play drums every other day or so. Finally getting a feel for playing double bass-drum stuff.

BJJ has given me 2 big friction burns on the knees, if i sit down for a while then stand my trousers stick to the sores, which is nice.

Last night I REALLY wasn't in the mood for karate. Dragged my way through, but then I got to pick what to do for the last 20 minutes. Couldn't think of anything - and 'kikihowa' came to mind. Kinda like push-hands on speed, it's a fun way to end the class and reminded me: I may hate sometimes to go...but am always glad that I went.

yesterday watched the arsenal game at the kings head pub in santa monica....tagging along with my mate whos a obsessive fan of-must be one of the few american brothers into the premier league or not?....anyway walked along the pier and it was chilly and overcast too, whats that about, southern california is supposed to be warm and sunny, grumbleweed curse kicking in. later ate at a neighbourhood creole restaurant, top marks, must go back before i go home later thet night did a drive around the nickerson gardens in watts officially the home of the bloods gang, ross kemp would be proud of me!
today up late then took public transport to hollywood via thaitown....spotted sly stallones sig and handprints outside the chinese theatre ....had lunch/philly cheesesteak in hooters restaurant ....took the bus back home and about 7 latino homeboys jumped on full of it, just bravado no doubt?? ....my mate wanted me to experience urban public transport and it was an experience!
just going to watch a bootleg copy of american gangster now....

Grumbleweed;

If you're in the Thai Town neighbourhood, don't miss out the restuarant called "Rua Pae" (the Raft). They say that that place got the best thai food you can get. . outside of Thailand.

But then again, I presume that Mrs Grumbleweed cook thai food on a daily basis for you anyway

-Taison out

I was planning to leave my job in December, but they laid me off early because they had already hired my replacement. That'll teach me to be a nice guy and give them more than two weeks' notice.

hehe thanks playa!!, hell yeah--to the meanest looking one on the bus i said look here homey do pipe down the noise old bean i've got an awfully bad headache
hey just back from 'the steps' with views of the ocean and pacific pallasades area...basiclly you run down near vertical set of steps (approx 200) to the road and run a few hundred metres to another set of the same and run to where you started and repeat, i managed 5 circuits, bloomin' killer workout!.....lots of others doing the same thing, some great views ....monday lunch i'll do the same when my homey (yes i can call him that, lol, he encourages it in fact!) watches arsenal at the kings head not far away, i'll be damned if i'm going to sit in a british pub and watch football with all the views at the steps !

khun taison my (ex, now shes holding the fort back home while i'm away regardless) mrs makes the best thai food outside of the kingdom, however if we've time we'll try and find this place

ps the weather is better today

Drove up the PCH (pacific coast highway) up around malibu earlier looking for jim rockfords trailer....it appears not to be there now

going out tonight to a 'hood' strip club ....but heck i'm single now and owe it to myself to live a little
but sunday will be redeemed when i go to a local church --apparently as a guest i'll have to stand up and introduce myself

ps-theres a bench/weights and dumbbells in the backyard, will get up early tomorrow and do a few sets.....just to keep ticking over.

Grumbleweed,

Introduce yourself? In a church? In front of people??

*Harkens*
Me name's Grumbleweed. I'm from the United Kingdom, you know, the place that invented the language yer using. I just wanted to say thanks god for showing me this country, and please smite the people that has utterly and totally butchered the language of me forefathers. Later "homies".

Aikiuke,
The invitation to watch movie with this, err, prince charming (?), is only open for females!

*Mumbles in an indecipherable language*

-Taison out

bangkok is the home of gender reassignment operations so this date is plausible

bought today a black chicago bulls beanie hat for winter running from the 'santee alley' flea market downtown LA.....i'd have been very impressed with this place had i not ever been to chatchuchak weekend market!

It was back to Saifa bunkai last night...and it was a reminder that I don't like to touch people. Kept trying to do the armbar in the opening sequence...but with open hands and 'not touching'.

Another reminder of something I have to work on.

Last weekend, I had the honor of being invited up to observe the black belt testing at my friends school. Following testing we went out to eat and I ended up with food poisoning and a trip to the hospital!

Laura

Some dipstick stopped short on me today. He was hauling a flatbed trailer with no brake lights. I tried to swerve and miss,but I wrecked my truck into his solid steel trailer. Dipstick!!!!

Worst flies I ever ran into were on Viginia beach, VA. Man those those would bite! Very irritating.

Why am I not as flexible as I was when I was 26? I'm still 26ish in a 42ish kind of way. I should be as flexible now as I was then. I am getting it back though but it takes soooooo long. Stupid injuries. Over the years, scar tissue has built up and I have to break that up to get my flex back. And that is always fun.

Youth is indeed wasted on the young.

Scottie

today my friends and I all got our tires slashed, and there is a huge list of suspects.

I think slashing tires and hiding is underhanded and cowardly.

I had my tires slashed several years ago back when I was living with my parents. It was 2 tires on every car in the neighborhood. The police caught the suspects shortly after (they started bragging about their crime ) and come to find out it was one of the high school rival's football coach's son. He spent the night in jail and lost his scholarships (he had a full ride 4 year scholarship to any school he wanted to go to) then as part of his punishment he and his buddies had to pay for the damages. HMMMMMM add it up and there were at least 4 streets with 20 houses on average per street and most people had 2 cars in their drive way so that's 4 tires per household. Of course they poked a hold in the sidewall and the tires had to be replaced not just patched. If you figure a tire costs about $100 a piece, I come up with $32000. I beleive the judge ordered them to pay $11000 a piece (there were three of them). Not another problem out of the rival school since and it's been at least 10 years.

I feel your pain pepto!

Casey

My boss is having a stressful day. I have been on the receiving end of two already, today being the second. From what I here from others in my dept, it is a regular occurrence.

She has already apologized kinda. You know how it goes. "Well, maybe I get a little excited when things don't line up with my expectations. I will try to communicate things a little better in the future."

I was hired with the expectation of taking over the safety dept and running things. I jump in waist deep, start doing just that, getting great feedback from coworkers and the technicians, but since I am not doing it "her way", it can sometimes be a problem. My question is, if it is supposed to be "my" safety program, why would I do it "her" way? I thought I was the guy with 16 years worth of safety experience?

Silly me. Hey, she's the boss. If she wants it done her way, so be it but if that is the case, why did she hire me?

*silently ponders life as a street performer*

Is there a way that you can show her the benefit of doing it "your" way. I find in a lot of cases that people have a hard time giving up things at work and then want their fingers in it until you make it your own and they understand this. It just sounds like me that she is one of those people and it may take some time.

I think your right Dereck. She is a good boss most of the time. I think it is just a control thing. We will work it out in time I am sure. Appreciate the insight.

I've been in the same situation Scottie and I believe that if I had to give things up I would be as well. In fact when I handed over some of the collection duties a number of years ago I also had my fingers in it for a time but accepted that it wasn't mine anymore and I eventually got over it and am glad that I do not have this as a part of my duties thus freeing it up for other things. I suspect your boss will eventually come to this conclusion and will be happy with your work too and that she no longer has to worry about it.

Happy Thanksgiving day folks! Awesome weather today, around 70F/22C. I actually went out into my back yard and did a lovely little plyometric workout in the sun with my dog. We had fun.

I am thankful for my health, friends, family and the intellectual stimulation I get here on the forum.

Take care!

To all my American counterparts, have a Happy Thanksgiving. I'm an envious Canadian. Mine was over on October 8 and we only get the Monday off. You Americans get Thursday and Friday off PLUS ... and probably the most important ... you get NFL Football. I love Turkey too ... I wish I was in the US. How come I never got an invite Matt?

It is nice here today as well; it is -6C (21F). I actually went into my back yard and did some lovely "snow angels" in sun with "myself". I had fun. Actually I did nothing like this; I'm at work, not eating Turkey or watching Football! We don't have snow which is surprising as usually by Halloween we have it. Crisp for sure but I can live with this then snow and -30C(-22F) or colder.

Well Dereck next year you are more than welcome to come here! We ALWAYS have more than enough food! We may not be able to make snow angels or have a snow ball fight (it was 55F today). As far as the NFL, at last check the 'Boys were up considerably over the Jets. Life's good. I'm going out tonight with my sister and am just going to stay up all night and go shopping at 4 AM. WOO HOO!

Casey

Holy crap I burned the roof of my mouth today.

I make the best pie crust.

Today I learned a valuable lesson. NEVER go shopping on "Black Friday" when you are hungover and your allergies are acting up. I feel horrible! I want to crawl in a hole and die. *sniffle, sniffle*

Mental Note: Bad times do not last forever. Good times will break through if you are patient and believe things will get better.

My allergies are slowly getting better eventhough I still feel like I'm in a fog.

I just didn't feel like dealing with people and was very greatful that I don't live in a bigger city like Houston. I'm going to finish Christmas shopping this weekend, sober.

Greatest invention ever, on line shopping. No crowds, no waiting in lines, no hiding things from the people you are shopping with. When I am done, I am going to the mall on Christmas eve just to watch people panic, lol.

Ah yes, I farted today.
Don't know if anyone noticed or not but it was involuntary...
We were just doing moving ichikomi and I tensed up too much for the kuzushi [sp?] that 'll teach me.

Leaving for work 10 minutes earlier sure avoids a lot of traffic back-ups.

bump

Aw jeez Aiki! Light a match will ya! Whooo! No, wait, that's one of mine. Nevermind...

Well I managed to finish the bulk of my Christams shopping Friday night. I just have a few little things to get like stocking stuffers and I'm done. *WHEW* I think I'm going to go to the mall the weekend before Christmas and just sit and watch people panic.

Casey

That is one of my favorite things to do during the Christmas season. I love to be at the mall on Christmas eve. Even if only for about 15 minutes. Man, the panic and fear in some peoples faces. I know, I am a sick, twisted person who finds joy in the torment of others who did not have the foresight to shop earlier or online. (Well Duh!)

Scottie, you and I need to hang out! We are two peas in a pod! I love to "people watch" especially on holidays like Christmas and Valentine's Day. The sheer terror when men realize they forgot to get their wife something and the mall is going to close in 10 minutes. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA It's great!

Casey

Talk about karma. I was panicing myself yesterday trying to get my son his Nintendo Wii for Christmas. There is a nationwide shortage of the console. I had thought I reserved one but had not. I was in full panic mode until last night. I got a great deal on one on E-Bay. Thank you internet shopping!!!!

Now I can sit back and watch others go through what I went through last night. If I had had to pay 800.00 for one, I would have because I had promised this to him since July and it has been all he has talked about. Last year there was an over abudance of them at Christmas because of the introduction of the X-Box 360 and PS3, but this year apparently everyone wants a Wii. Actually, I will still probably sweat bullets until it is in my hands.

Karma, gotta love it!

LOL I bought mine this past summer. We had a hard time finding it then. My husband went into a gaming store sometime in June and found one. We went ahead a got it knowing it was going to be a hot item for Christmas. We now play Lego's Star Wars alsmost every night. I'm not a big video game player but I love playing the Wii! I hope you (I mean, UH, your son) has as much fun with it as we do!

Casey

The only problem w/ the Wii is that I'm always dropping cigarette ashes on the floor or burning myself.

(yup...just F-ing around again, no offence)

Forgot about this thread, too:

http://www.fightingarts.com/ubbthreads/s...;page=&vc=1

UGH! I have such a headache. I'm trying to cut caffeine out of my diet and for the second day in a row I have massive headache. I may have to break down and get a Dr. Pepper. Later today I'm supposed to go to a neighboring town for market days and meet my parents. I might stay at their house and go to another town on Sunday to look for a "big girl" bed for my daughter **Sigh**

Gosh it seems like just a few months ago she was learning to walk and here she's going to be 3 next month. Damn they grow too fast! I'm sure I won't be saying that when the kids are teens though! Is there any way to slow kids' growth?

Casey

Why do unexpected bills and problems show up right before Christmas? It never fails, if you have something coming up that you need a little extra money for, bills pop up out of nowhere. Car repair, some activity or great opportunity for the kids, or anything else that would be great if only scheduled some other time of year.

There is so much junk food here at work. I am going to be a whale if I don't stop eating everything. This time of year is not diet-friendly at all.

Matt, when I was working, I took my own food in a small cooler down to the snacks and extra drinks. I also wouldn't carry ANY cash on me. NOTHING! Not a penny! It also helped keep my weight in check especially during the holidays when the pounds are easy to pack on.

Casey

I don't use vending machines. But folks bring in cookies, cakes, candy, fudge, popcorn, etc. And everything ends up in our department for some reason.

I....I....HAVE NO WILLPOWER GRumblOFASFRHGKKGSOPKGARGHHG

OOOHHHHHH I see. If that's the case I'm making some homemade mint cookies. I'll send a batch to ya!

Casey

Thank you. So much.

Holy crap. I think I just lost my appetite -

http://www.aolfoodblog.com/2007/07/24/bacon-chocolate-bar/

"We interrupt our regular posting to announce that the mad, dangerous, lovely chocolatiers of Vosges Haute Chocolat have seen fit to bestow upon the world a bacon candy bar.

Yes, you read that correctly.

Said bar consists of applewood smoked bacon, alder smoked salt, deep milk chocolate, and the contents of every fever dream I've had since young girlhood.

The Bacon Exotic Candy Bar is currently sold out on the Vosges website, but I, for one fully intend to press my nose up against my monitor until they're back in stock."

Hmmmm.....maybe I could make some ass-flavored chocolate bars, and sell them to idiots for $10 each.

My work is full of chocolate and stuff as well. I love chocolate. And one of our old employees who we keep in touch with brought in brownies for me which was enough for everybody as I'm always expected to share but they are for me because she knows I love them. Thanks Judy.

Hmm...thanks for the reminder. I've been meaning to tweak some recipes for the holidays. I've been trying to perfect a 'Pepper Cake' for some time now. Maybe with some cinnamon....

My daily blog has to do with money... or at least that's where it starts...

My "no good son" sold his old car this past week, and like a good citizen paid off his college loan. The day he sent the US gov loan corp their money, I told him that he better block his account, or they would keep on drafting it. This morning, I reminded him again to go block the account, and (of course) he had "other things to do" before going by the bank. You can guess the rest... sure enough, our rich uncle in Washington removed more money from his account today. He called me on my cell phone while I was driving home in a complete tizzy about his money... which he may or may not see again before the Arctic melts.

When I went to class tonight, my fellow instructor and myself were the only ones there at class time... so I suggested we go get a beer. The students slowly drifted in, and finally one came in carrying his weapons, and we left it up to him if we went "drinking training" or "training training"... so we left and went to a Mexican restaurant. It was a truly "international trip"... one American (me), one half-American wannabe Japanese (my best friend), one Mexican, one Scottish-American, and one Polack (who actually grew up in both Communist and Free Poland). My best friend was speaking Japanese to the Mexican waiters, the Mexican was speaking Spanish to the Americans, and nobody could understand anything that was going on... it was just like class... only there was beer and diet Coke.

Also, I went to the doctor today... to have lab work done, since they had refused to renew my cholesterol medicine prescription. I told the lab technician that I had been off my medicine three weeks because they refused the renewal, and she told me that "you have to be on your medication before we can tell whether or not its working"... DUH! "Well then," I said, "wouldn't it make sense to renew the prescription and simply call me and tell me to come in and get the lab work done?" They gave me a month's worth of medicine, and told me to come back in three weeks... no charge... (I guess you can only charge when you aren't the one causing the problem)...

Also, I went shooting today... and was having trouble acquiring the target... shot all over the target. After about a 45 minute session, one of the shots causes a "splatter" that popped me on the cheek. Then, I realized I was shooting with my glasses off. After that, I was tearing it up...

It's amazing how much better you can shoot when you can see...

My wife thought it would be a great idea to send artwork to family as Christmas gifts. So I spent a weekend painting six landscapes. In the long run it took more time and cost more money than just about any other gift we would have sent.

After that I imagined an online gallery. Not that I remotely have the time to feed it....anyway...

http://www.prairiefinearts.blogspot.com/

I had hoped to go my entire lifetime without deploying a fire extinguisher.

That dream died today.

Mark,
the last years of my wife's life, she learned to paint. It was mostly flowers, etc. by "one stroke" methods, but I finally talked her into sharing it with other people, and the things she painted are reminders of her wherever I go. She left a little piece of her heart in every stroke, and they are enduring reminders of her.

While I understand your point about the time and cost, they will be enduring reminders of you and your family in an age where everything is "instant this" and "just add water - that". I was always the art afficianodo (probably spelled that wrong), but she became the artist. I treasure her "things" that were done by her hand, and know that others do too. Gifts that mean a lot can cost a lot or a little... it really is the thought that counts.

An artist always leaves a little bit of themselves in every piece of work. Who could ask for more?

I just listened to Rush's CD "Hemispheres" during my weight-training workout. What great music.

I just accidently destroyed the key to a customer's car.

I just started putting "Oldman's Boobushi" online.

I'm the only IT guy for a building of around 120 users. Normally, I'm working harder than a one-legged cat trying to bury a turd on a marble floor.

But I work for a government organization, and today was not only the day after Christmas, but also the first day back from a four-day weekend, and also yet again leads into another four-day weekend.

I was lonelier than Ted Nugent at a PETA convention. A tumbleweed drifting by wouldn't have surprised me. I'm saying the building was emptier than Paris Hilton's skull.

So, I got paid a handsome wage today to occupy a chair, and tool around on FA.com, among a few other select SFW websites.

Better than a poke in the eye any day.

Hey Zombie...
that's called an "inhouse holiday"... my boss was gone for the week before I went on vacation and I've been on vacation for a week (go back on Jan 2)...
Enjoy it while you got it...

My boss was out yesterday too. Felt like singing the Cure's "Just Like Heaven". Yes, the day was nearly perfect for me.

I spent my vacation week cleaning. I am boring. LOL!

my mom's reading an old Christmas letter she found that she wrote in 2002 or so...
weird...
I was 15 then...
and my younger sister [now 15] sounds like she used to be nice...

Its been a busy time lately with trying to get my horse ready for our tourney at the end of the month.

We have started Doma Vaquera garrocha training which is great fun. We can now do interesting bo kata with a 4m long pole...

Last week I shot a longbow off him at full gallop at a moving target... its a bloody scary thing to do actually.

LOOK MA! NO HANDS!!! 8)

That is amazing. It is scary enough riding a horse at full gallop but to let go, retrieve your bow, notch an arrow, and fire at the same time? Good for you, but definitely not something for me. Broken necks from falling from horesback don't look good on me.

Much respect Reiki.

Thanks mate!

Getting bucked off the same horse in my armour a couple of months ago wasnt much fun either when my foot got stuck in the stirrup. He is very big too so it was a long way down!

I did a perfect breakfall so none of my body suffered however my ankle was a big mess after and its still sore. I couldnt do much at training for several weeks as it hurt to flex it both ways and it had no strength in it.

I was holding a lance at the time and I can remember thinking "oh Cr@p!" and flinging it away before I went in the opposite direction.

The armour protected my body nicely as we have a padded arming jacket on underneath it was like falling in a duvet.

Shooting the bow off the horse is a lot of fun.

We have a moving target [a sack filled with hay] to hit so the first bit was trying to get the horses used to seeing the sack running away from them and to get them to charge at it. Merlin got into the spirit of it and kept leaping on the sack until we put it behind the list barrier so he couldnt get at it!

My arrow aiming still sux but I hope to get better as we get more practice.

www.ImageShack.us" />

A new look for oldman. Kelly, one of my friends from work is going through Chemo. Myself and 3 other guys are showing up to work tomorrow clean shaven in support.

If any of you guys are confused... I'm not Dereck.

Mark, that's great what you are doing to help support your friend. But how in the world did you get Al Franken to shave his head for that photo?

Darn you winter break!
Thanks to you there's no judo for almost a month!
I am bored, home alone, tv is out, and have dial up...
arg!

I've had both kids at home for 2 1/2 weeks because school is out. My son will go back Monday but it doesn't seem soon enough. I'm going to go crazy! I'll try and get the kids out to do something tomorrow before I go too insane. Well I'm off to cover my plants before it gets too cold and kills off my amaryllis and jasmine then off to the laundry room to switch loads around. I can hardly contain my excitement.

Casey

Just found out that my wife has the worst case of strep throat that our doctor has EVER seen. Doc is recommending that she avoid work, while they get the office sterilized! Also recommend that she get a hotel room so I don't get infected, as I am allergic to most antibiotics.

Well this past month has been a rough one for Casey's Clan. I'll start off with the beginning of December. December 9th to be exact around 3 pm. I get a horrifying phone call from a long time friend of mine (I've known her for 26 years and her husband for about 12)
Friend: "Baby died!"
Me: "What are you talking about? What do you mean Baby died?"
She has 4 guinea pigs and one of them recently had a couple of babies and I'm wondering at this point why she is freaking out this bad over a couple of guinea pigs she's only had for about a month.
Friend: "Jayden's dead!"
Me: "What do you mean Jayden? Your son, Jayden?"
Friend: "Yeah. Casey why did this have to happen?"
Me: "WHAT HAPPENED?! He was just fine, I saw him just last week!"
Friend: "He drown in Dad's pond!"
I rushed home from a neighboring city to be with her. A drive that normally takes at least 1.5 hours was made in about an hour. My worst fear has always been losing one of my kids. I can't imagine life without them. My best friend is living any parent's biggest fear. A happy, healthy baby 10 days shy of his second birthday, dies. A parent shouldn't bury a child; it's "out of order" if you will. My heart continually breaks for this family...they LOVED this boy. They are in the process of picking up the shattered pieces and trying to make sence of it all. On his birthday they released 2 balloons with a note his older brother wrote to him. They watched the balloons float away and once they were out of sight, JJ turns to his parents and says, "Ok we can go now, Jayden has them." **sigh** Out of the mouths of babes.

New Years was fine...uneventful. There's a fire ban in South Texas so we weren't allowed to pop any fireworks which my son LOVES to do. So we went to our neighbor's house and had black-eyed peas (MMMMMM) at midnight and sat and talked (which I'm good at!).

In just over a week my baby girl will be 3. I was thinking yesterday that by the time my son turned 3, I had just found out I was pregnant with my daughter. Time passes too quickly. In 5 months my son will be 7 and out of 1st grade. Summer is short for his school district because they go year round. He'll start 2nd grade at the end of July and that will be the last year he's at the primary campus. **sigh** Where has all the time gone?

Casey

And the excitment continues....

So I went to my parent's house this weekend so my mom, kiddos, and I could go to IKEA in Austin (the closest one to me). We spent the day there and got back to their house around dinner. My dad spent all day smoking a turkey with mesquite wood. Some of the best turkey I've had in a long time. We get done eating and I help my mom clean the kitchen. We all sit in the living room and start talking about our day. My mom notices a strange dog bark and we all jump up to see what's going on. My dad heads out (dark + country living = I'm not going to find out what ANY noise is) and tells Maddie (their chow mix) to hush and she keeps whinning (not like her to keep on after being told to stop). He heads around the corner and yells "PETE!" (their rat terrier). Pete managed to get in the chicken's pen and killed 9 chickens. My dad had just bought 20 chickens that afternoon. Several others are hurt. By morning another one died and 5 more look like they are going to die. Two chickens are fine, not a scratch on them; 3 are injured but look like they are going to be ok.

We all go to bed and awake the next morning by a loud BANG! My dad gets dressed and heads out the door to see if anyone needs medical attention or if it's poachers hunting on his neighbor's property. Come to find out it was a car wreck. My dad doesn't have a medical background but some help is better than none. The guy just got off work and fell asleep at the wheel. The truck rolled over onto the roof and landed on a neighbor's barbed wire fence. Some of the guy's buddies from work helped repair the fence and my dad stayed with him until the highway patrol and tow truck showed up. The tow truck drove by my parent's house with the truck....it's a total loss. The guy walked away without a scratch. He had one of his buddies drive him to the hospital just to be on the safe side. One lucky guy.

Casey

A blog I wish I'd read before.

http://blogs.rockymountainnews.com/denver/iraqiarmy/

If you have been at your current job for years and someone offers you a position for nearly twice the money you make now, it seems like it is a very similar job to what you do now, and it is closer to home, if you are happy where you are, DO NOT TAKE IT!!!

I would trade all the additional money simply to get through my day without stress. I have changed jobs three times since I left the job I had held for over 15 years and was happy at. I have not been happy since. Over the last three years, I have held three different positions, all paying much more than my previous job but none giving me the least bit of happiness or comfort (feeling like you belong there).

If you are happy and can afford a decent lifestyle, stay there. Happiness is worth more than any increase in pay. TRUST ME WHEN I SAY THIS. I will stay at this job long enough to secure a certain safety certification that will help my career in the future but other than that, I am outta here within two - three years max and I am only staying that long to protect my resume.

When at least once a week you struggle with whether you should call in sick or not but don't, and you drag yourself to work looking forward to another day of self inflicted (I chose to leave my previous, well established job) stress and anxiety , there is a problem.

If I replace the word 'job' with 'marriage' or 'single'...will the advice still be true???

I never looked at it that way, but having never been married, I can not speak to that. Although a wise man did ask me to answer a question for him.

He asked me, "What is the definition of a bachelor?" The answer was, someone who never makes the same mistake once.

I always wondered if that were true.

It depends on whether or not you get a "good one" when you get married. I was married 32 years, and I miss my wife every day. I keep on "doing what I do", but there is a gap in my life that stays there... and nothing you "do" replaces it.

Geez, I was walking around wondering why my neck hurts so bad today. Then I remembered we did triangle chokes last night in BJJ class.

----
LOL triangle chokes.
love em or hate em, they are always painful for the chokee

Yep, that's what it was all right. Uh-huh, sounds about right.

*Scottie quickly hides chloroform and book on "How to perform better RNC's"*

Yay I actually ran and lifted some weights today! Go me!

Just found out today that Judo starts Tuesday (finally!)

Unfortunately I'm going to have a class during the Wednesday practice.

I was also looking forward to having a friend join, but am not sure if he will now since we'll only be able to go to practice together on Saturdays.

Ok, so since the Judo schedule didn't work out with my friend I'm going to look into taking a Jujitsu class with him.

If it works out, I'll still be doing Judo, which means Saturdays I'll be at the gym from 1-6pm since judo and jujitsu are back to back those days... fun stuff...

We'll see if this works out though, I have an evening college class right before one of the jujitsu classes during the week... Oh yeah, and I don't know how much it's going to cost... so... hopefully I'll be able to visit Monday and figure everything out, otherwise my friend will just have to wait either until summer or next semester to take a martial art with me...

Dag. I was supposed to be on vacation, but my boss hurt his back. So here I am at work.

Had a great weekend with my son and his cousin. Came back into work and there were two accident reports waiting for me.

Luckily, both were minor but had the potential to be much worse so a training we will go. One could have been avoided if my boss had listened to a recommendation I made months ago but the all mighty dollar was more important at the time.

Bet they will listen next time, then again...

So for this game design class that I'm taking I have to write a game review by finding a video game from a different genre than I'm used to with at least 9 hours worth of gameplay and play it for at least 9 hours...
I <3 this major.

I'm thinking FFXII or something... I'm not a big RPG'er.

As I get older, I find myself, more and more each day, having to restrain myself from beating the living shite out of at least one moron who has nothing better to do than find ways to suck the fun and joy right out of my day.

AWESOME -

I found some cookies that are almost exactly the same thing as the Girl Scout "samoas" (chocolate/caramel/coconut) cookies. And they're cheap, too ($1.65 a box!!!!)!

PROBLEM -

I am going to be a fat sh1t in no time.

It's snowing and it's keeping me from staying in town to use the Maya lab which means who knows when I'll get this 3d project done....

I'm a little late on the topic but that was freakin' funny!

Are you talking about my dead chicken story? Oh since I know EVERYONE is wondering how the other chickens are, 3 are still alive and doing well; not a scratch on them.

Casey

Sorry, I meant the jury story.

Oh yeah! HAHA! Yeah I was afraid he was going to spend the night in jail for contempt. HAHAHAHA I forgot I wrote a blog on that.

Casey

Ah Casey, they say the mind is the first to go. I think this might be a lingering effect from your Pink Power Ranger incident years ago. Oxygen depletion from the mask being too tight, lol.

I wouldn't doubt it! I could barely breathe in that thing! Word of advice to everyone, breathing your own CO2 for prolonged periods and wearing pink polyester from head to toe can be harmful to your mental heath.

Casey

Spent a harrowing 2.5 hours cleaning/fixing my bathroom sink yesterday. Very proud of myself, as I would describe my mechanical competence level as "theoretical" at best.

Then my toilet won't stop draining after you flush it.
Luckily I was able to fix that fairly quickly. Put a fork in me now.

Well the hubby was sent off for his bi-weekly drive to Louisiana on Tuesday. His final words to me (beyond Love you and be careful) was the truck needs gas. I thought, "Ok no big deal, I don't plan on doing much this week seeing how my son is out of school this week." Wednesday we stay at home and just relaxed at home. I caught up on housework and laundry and the kids played in the backyard most of the day. Thursday rolls around and I have school. I drop the kids off at a friend's house and glance at the gas gauge. Quarter tank, I have enough to get to school, I'll fill up when I get done with class. Well gas was about 10 cents more in town than it was on my end of town. I get out of class and start up the truck, man I love the way that 350 purrs! I noice the needle is just under the quarter tank mark. Great! I have plenty of gas to get back to my side of town (only about 10 miles). I'm driving down the freeway and I notice the engine is starting to cut out. I switch tanks and it doesn't remedy the problem. I tap the meter and it drops quickly to E. I pull off the freeway and cross the grass median to get to the access road. I stop the truck, put on the hazards, put on the parking brake, grab my purse, lock the truck and walk to the nearest gas station. It was only about a half mile away but it was VERY windy yesterday so it made the walk a little more tiresome than normal. I buy 2 gallons of gas and walk back, up hill, into a head wind. I can't even begin to count how many people stopped and asked if I needed help (even after I get back to the truck and I'm adding the gas to the tank). Just to put everyone's mind at ease, no I didn't take any rides from people (eventhough I would have liked to get out of the wind). I start the truck back up and drive down to the gas station and filled up both tanks. I called my friend and told her what had happened and that I should be there soon. I was just over an hour late getting the kids but it didn't seem to bother my friend. We stayed there until late and came home and straight to bed. I stayed up a little later and then went to bed. The kids didn't wake up until 8:30 this morning which was nice. I'm so sore this morning! Mostly my shoulders and upper arms. UGH! I could use a massage but of course my hubby won't be home until Wednesday. :sigh: I guess I can hold off until then.

Casey

A little bit more of an update on my oh-so-exciting life. I'm doing well in my geology class, top of the class so far. We've had 2 tests so far and I've managed a 100% on both, WOO-HOO! I've also decided once I have 2 years under my belt, I'm going to transfer to Texas A&M and get my bachelor's degree in petroleum geology. I've caught wind that Whichita, KS is the up and coming petroleum city. I'll have to see in the next few years if drilling is going to be serious there or not. Hey oldman, you want a new neighbor? LOL

My allergies are acting up real bad. In fact, any posts I've made in the past week can be ignored (especially if they don't make sense). I'm strung out on Benadryl and can barely breathe! UGH! What am I allergic to? Evergreen pollen. One would think that in South Texas, hundreds of miles away from any large source of evergreens, I wouldn't have to worry about evergreens. WRONG! Every cold front that blows through (especially ones that come from the Northwest), my allergies flair up. Is there any escape? Can I move somewhere and not have to worry about this? Ok besides on the equator...I would like some seasons.

Oh, seasons reminds me, I love March. Despite my allergies making my life miserable, March is by far my favorite month. Why? Wild flowers start to poke their little buds through the ground and now are in full bloom. The freeways and back roads are full of blue bonnetts, Indian paintbrushes, Indian blankets, butter cups, and so many more that I don't know the names of but feel like I should look them up. I might stop and take some pictures sometime before the blooms fade. Of course that will have to be in the next few weeks or I'll have to wait for next year, who wants to do that?

Well that, in short, is an update on me. I know everyone was on the edge of their seats just waiting for the next update on the trials and tribulations of my life. Hey someone's life has to be boring, why not mine? Well, the washer has buzzed, guess I should get jeans in the dryer. *YAWN*

Casey

Sorry to hear about your allergies, Casey. I don't have any natural allergies, but many chemicals/perfumes bother me.

Did something weird to my left wrist. Soft, swollen knot on the ulnar bone at the wrist joint. It was making a ominous clicking noise any time I turned my hand, or put pressure on the palm of my hand. Less so today. Will be avoiding weight-lifting for a few days to see if it gets better. If not, then off to the doctor.

Good thing it was your left wrist because...um, nevermind.

Sorry to hear about the allergies Casey. I just found out recently that I am allergic to one of the resins we use in mass quantities here at my job. YEA! The medication has done wonders and I am fine now but for a while, really miserable time so I can empathize.

And the man of a thousand jobs maybe be switching again soon. I have had 4 different jobs in the last 3 years. I simply can not find a new job I enjoy like the job I had for 15 years and loved (downsizing was about to force me out so I proactively searched for something else).

Maybe this next change will be the one. It wont happen for about 2 months but I am laying the ground work now. Let you know about it when things are more concrete.

Good luck in the job hunt. I'm the kind of person that doesn't know what to do with free time...so work, any work...is the only way I keep sane. LOL!

Got guilted into herding a pack of teenagers to the mall today. Knew I would go crazy with nothing to do (not a 'shopper')...brought the laptop.

Cool. My first foray into the realm of 'wireless'...coffee...computer...books and a corner table. Free time ain't so bad.

What a whirl-wind my life has been the past few weeks! I went down to city hall to pay my water bill and as I was getting my daughter in the car, I noticed a friend of mine getting off the city bus. I called her name and asked her what was going on. She was nearly in tears as she explained to me that her apartment was infested with some kind of bug and they were biting her and the kids. She couldn't take it anymore so she was going to move into a shelter and she might lose her daughter because her father won't let their daughter live in a shelter. She had tried scrubbing her house down with every cleaner known to man, she called the apartment office to spray but nothing was working. I told her to get in my car and I won't let them go to a shelter. Our kids are the same age and same gender so sleeping arrangements wouldn't be a problem at all. Her husband is off at bootcamp right now (scheduled to graduate on Friday) so there wasn't much he could do. We've transferred her son out to my son's school (the school her son was in wasn't very good and he wasn't doing very well there). In the 2 1/2 weeks since he's transferred, there has been leaps and bounds in his progression.

They all left yesterday to Illinois to see her husband graduate from boot camp. My son is in school and my daughter started preschool today. Here I sit in a quiet house...*SIGH* geez what do I do? I haven't had the house to myself in 7 years. I think when I get home from school I'm going to really scrub the house down. Well it's that time of the day...I need to get ready to head off to class (by the way still top of the class as my last test was also a 100%).

Casey

Hope it's not bedbugs. They are apparently VERY hard to get rid of, and they get everywhere in the house - in the furniture, in the wall, etc. Nice of you to help your friend, Casey.

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/bedbugs/

You are a good person & friend Casey. Nice to know that there are still people out there who will go out of their way for a friend. I know a few but I didnt think there were many others left out there. Good people are hard to come by, good friends even harder.

No, she paid for an exterminator out of her own pocket to check for bedbugs and he said there were no signs of them. He sprayed for them anyway just to be on the safe side. She threw away her funiture, mattresses and anything else that was a soft surface. She was going crazy with all the bites. There must have been 100s of bites on her back alone. The bites on the kids are gone but she is still dealing with a few. She has a rare skin disorder so her healing will take a little longer.

Thanks for the praises guys. I don't think I'm doing anything extraordinary; just helping a friend out in need.

Casey

Well my friend decided to move out. Her husband graduated from the navy boot camp and is currently in "A" school (where they learn how to do their jobs). Since she threw everything away from her apartment, my hubby and I decided to give her our living room furniture and our bedroom furniture. It was a hand-me-down to us so it wasn't like we were out anything. Thanks to Uncle Sam, we should have new furniture here in about a week.

I'm taking this time to paint the living room and dining room. I'm done in the living room other than the edging (I hate edging) and I am attempting to paint the dining room wall that is shared with the living room. Now, I say attempt because that's all it's been. I noticed a bit of the old paint peeling up so I thought I'd peel that part back to allow the new paint to adhear properly. Well the peeling continued and continued and continued. Now over half the wall is back down to the sheetrock and knock down texture. To top it all off, all this peeling up paint has resulted in discovering old termite damage to the sheetrock. *UGH* Where will it end?! My house is in complete disaray and it's starting to stress me out. The kids don't really seem to mind as there are little tunnels of furniture for them the crawl through. My husband wants the order back in the house as well. *SIGH* Well time to get dinner for the kids. Today is my son's 7th birthday so he gets to choose where we eat. Looks like tonight's pizza night.

Casey

I just found out that my bro may be getting a job 300 miles away as opposed to the 30 miles away he is now. He's still in the interview stage and I want the best for him, but damn, that sucks.

Talked to him today. He said that if he gets the job, once he finds his wife a job up there, his second goal is to find me a job as well.

Cool!!!

I was actually very sad when I first found out, but equally excited when he said he'd look for a job for me up there. Those emotions surprised me a bit, at least in their strength, but probably shouldn't have.

Not sure...but I think I got 'grappled' last night in class. The whole 'seiunchin bunkai with a leg catch'...we don't do it. So, I asked to work on that bunkai last night. Guess I was a little 'reticent'...so a point was made. LOL! Lots of fun.

Other than that. Been sick with some kind of head/chest thing, got another cat that is dying, sister had her 4th kid and I was ferrying around people (gawd..the 'draaaaama' of a big family...I'll spare you... )

My sister (I'm the oldest of 6) is 20 years younger than me, and having hard times. They got back from Japan about 2 years ago, and have been struggling trying to get their Navy benefits, find a place they can afford, find jobs, get a car, deal with 3 preschool (now 4) kids, etc. Broke as churchmice, with serious problems...but they love each other. Nice to see at my old age.

Driving her hubby home from the hospital (the baby had to stay...complications)...discovered my baby sister loves...red bean rice cakes. The ones with the black seeds on them...got hooked on them in Japan. She loves them...and so do I. I see a surprise trip to her house this week...with red bean rice cakes.

Next installment: harlan taps out her instructor with a RNC.

Awesome class last night. We were in groups of 4 where one person wore boxing gloves, one person focus mitts, one person as is and the last person boxing gloves.

First person teams up with the person with focus mitts for 1 minute. The person with the focus mitts calls out different combinations. After 1 minute immediately to the next person

You are on your back and this person (as is) side mounts you and it is your job to get up or get into a dominate position. This goes for a minute and then on to the next person.

You are now boxing for 1 minute with this person. After 1 minute back to the first person.

You do this 3 times back to back with no breaks. The only changes per sets when you are up against the second person to grapple the second time you now try to submit that person instead of standing up. The 3 time you meet it is submission and a little bit of ground'n pound. For all three of these you are still wearing your boxing gloves so rather difficult to do some submissions.

This was not meant for you to win; quite the opposite. You are tired and you get more tired as you go. This is meant for you to be drained and be on the losing end and to push through. It is meant so that you don't forget your form when hitting the focus mitts or when boxing as people have a tendency to drop their gloves or not keep their chin down or look away when being hit. It is for you to get used to being drained while somebody is on top of you trying to submit or punch you out.

An excellent drill.

AHHHH So it rained last night for the first time in about 6 weeks. It was a pretty good storm and woke the kiddos up. Guess where they ended up. So there was myself, both of my kids, and the cat all huddled in my queen sized bed. Luckily, my husband was at work last night so there was one less person in bed. I teetered on the edge of the bed all night. I had a death grip on the sheets just to make sure I wouldn't get kicked out of bed. My daughter, she's three and weighs about 30 pounds, can take up the entire bed; my son, seven and weighs about 50 pounds, isn't much better at sharing the bed. Oh and let's not forget the cat, an eight pound Russian Blue, sleeps on me. I'm exhausted today. To top everything off, I'm trying to get everything ready to go to Alabama. There's no rest for the weary I suppose. Well time to bathe Munchkin so she can get to bed (hopefully all night in HER bed!).

[rant]Oh and about 6 weeks ago we bought new living room furniture. We have the chair and love seat but are still waiting on the couch. Their excuse? They have to get it from Georgia (Atlanta is 1000 miles away). Now I may not be the best at number crunching, but at this rate I think I could have walked to Georgia and drug the couch home behind me. It's only a couple of states away. Why didn't they stick the couch on the same truck as the chair and love seat? That probably would have made too much sense. They called me Friday to let me know the couch would be in "sometime this week". What the hell is THAT supposed to mean? I'm leaving for vacation soon and I have already postponed my plans once for them and I'm not about to do it again. They are about to royally [censored] me off. Then again, what else can I do other than sit and wait? Tell them to take it back? Great then I go and buy from somewhere else and have to wait on that furniture to be delivered by them. I'm back to square one. Well I suppose I should get kids in bed (my favorite part of the day!) and continue to clean house and get things organized.[/end rant]

Casey

Just ended a pretty successful season as a little league baseball coach. I coached two teams and my son played on both. We have an "In House" league and a "Travel" league and I coached an in house team and the travel team. My in house team went to the semi's of the playoffs but lost the game that would have taken us to the finals. Travel ended the season a little above 500 but we came a long way as a team and everyone improved fundamentally and had a great time. Best of all, my son was selected to the All Star game in both leagues by his peers. He ended the season with 5 home runs and his slugging percentage was the highest on either team. Yes, I am very proud of him.

The parents were very supportive of me, even when I had to pull (switch positions/take out of the game) a couple of their kids for various reasons during games throughout the season. I had to pull my own son when he wasn't pitching up to par so they knew I was being fair and objective. We did have a couple of hickups through the season but nothing major. I had a good time too and everybody learned and improved.

This was my first year as an actual coach. I have assisted every year my son has played ball but this was the first time I actually stepped up. Good times and I love the time with my son. He stepped up for me too. He took control of the team on the field and got them working together well. he was one of the captains on the in house team and the kids really listened to him and his opinion.

We only have the All Star games left and I am sure he will do well in those too. In last year's travel league All Star game, he lead off with a triple.

I put my name in to coach one of the All Star teams but I havent heard back yet. I am not sure how the process works but I hope I can at least assist.

Called the "help desk" today at work re: invalid password on my computer. Ending up talking to a very nice lady in Poland! Yes, this still amazes me.

In other news, I am Johnny Klutz today. Every time I have tried to pick something up, I end up dropping it. Luckily haven't dropped anything explosive today.

Post deleted by Zombie Zero

Post deleted by Zombie Zero

Post deleted by Zombie Zero

Admin note: Some of these posts were deleted by user request, due to the sensitivity of the situation. MattJ didn't do anything wrong. Carry on. -- Z

*Bans MattJ*

Oh wait? He didn't do anything wrong? Oh well, no one'll miss him anyways.



Today learnt another recipe. Life as a chef apprentice is filled with food that I don't want to eat. I've tasted so much sauce over the last few days I'm growing green and I kept getting asked "what's in it?". Sheesh, I'm not a computer that can analyze everything.

*Bans ZZ to keep Matt company*

-Taison out

my day started well, my old rover passed its yearly MOT safety check , ok, they suggest it needs a bit of welding before next test that my mate big dave can sort for nowt (everyone knows a big dave, i know two!).....but then i get home and the poxy washing machine goes on the blink. an engineer on friday for a handsome fee will tell me if its worth him fixing or buy and new one. in the mean time its down to the river and a washboard (or my folks machine!)

Seems Cord has work to do!

-Taison out

no the other 'big dave'. i'm not sure if cord knows one end of a mig welder from the other. no shame if he doesn't

Tomorrow morning is knee surgery day!! Wish me luck! For preventative measures I wrote 'OTHER KNEE' on my right knee.

Smart idea, Brian. Good luck!

Best of luck Brian!

*Bans MattJ the most dangerous troll*

-Taison out

Everything went well and they operated on the correct knee,my left one.

They cut 1/3 of my patellar tendon and used it for an acl. I have nine staples on the front and two on the side. They used some screws to hold the new acl in place.
Just like the last surgery I woke up shaking and vomiting and unable to urinate. Fortunately I was able to go this time before they catherterized me. I hated that!!

I went to rehab today for some very light rehab. Thank goodness for oxycodone,lol.

Catheter? Oh dear.

Hoping your recovery requires minimal catheterization.

So, I'm over at my neighbor's house across the street, chatting. My dog is in the house, looking out at me through the window. She leaves the window, then comes back a moment or two later. We continue chatting. The dog leaves the window again, then comes back. We chat on. Then I notice that it's been a few minutes since I've seen the dog in the window. A fine sheen of cold sweat starts to break out on me, as I know that my unattended dog is world class, olympic level at several things:

* escaping out of my fenced in back yard, so she can visit my neighbors
* destroying my furniture
* chasing my cats inside (or rabbits outside)

But she's inside, so she can't get out. Right?

Hmmm, what? Why yes, that does sound like my dog barking outside..............hahaha. But she's inside, right?

Oh lord, let me go check on her.

I go back inside and see my couch cushion is still in one peice, as are my cats. But that's odd.......the dog usually always comes running when I walk inside the house. I look upstairs, I look downstairs.

Nothing.

I call her name, panicking.

Nothing. Where the hell is she? She has to be insi......well, this is MY dog, so let me check out back. It DID sound like her bark.

I look outside, and sure enough, she comes running up to me. The damn dog had jumped up on the latch of the side door in my kitchen, and let herself out. Scared the cr4p out of me, but the neighbor and I had a good laugh when I told her that yes, that was my dog barking outside.

Now, all I have to do is teach her how to drive, so she can go grocery shopping for me.

So part of my degree requirements is to take two kinesiology classes. My school does offer a MA & SD Beginner and MA & SD Advance, but it's on Monday and Wednesday evenings and that's when my TKD class is so that one was a no-go. Yoga was my next choice but it was full. I can't play basketball to save my life and I swim like a cat so those were out. Weight training caught my eye, the class times worked for me and there's openings! Great. I haven't lifted weights since my freshman year in high school (1993-1994). I started out just benching the bar and have since added 10 pounds. I worked my middle traps yesterday (50 pounds) and man are they sore! I didn't realize how much you use some of these muscles! I feel great dispite having various muscle groups sore throughout the week. I think next semester I'll try to get into the sailing class, scuba diving looks pretty cool too but it requires a 200-yard swim and I've already discussed my swimming abailities.

Last week my 30 year old stove went out. I suppose it's lived a good long life and it was time to replace it. Nearly $1000 later (counting sales tax and exra warranty) we brought home a new stove. We pulled out the old stove only to find that it was hard wired into the house. Luckily, my husband was an electrician in the navy a few years back so wiring the new stove wasn't a problem. Now he's talking about renovating the kitchen. We have about 6 other projects going on right now and I really don't want to take on something that big until everything else is finished. He's agreed and we are just window shopping to get ideas for styles of cabinets and types of counter tops we want. *SIGH* I just want life to slow down a bit!

Casey

Well all of my grades have finally been posted and it's another semester of straight A's. Yeah me!

On another note, I went to my first ever hockey game. Man was it fun! Most of the players on the home team were from Canada (guess there's slim pickin's in South Texas for anyone who even knows how to ice skate much less play hockey). There were a couple of fights for reasons unknown to me. One seemed to spur another and that would get another started. I figured they would be broken up right away and sent to the penalty box; I thought wrong. What was even better was my son and I got to spend some much needed together time. After the game we went ice skating and even had the IceRays (the home team) out on the ice helping kids (and some adults) skate. A couple were off the ice helping lace up skates and posing for a photo-op.


I don't think I've seen my son smile so much! He's already asked if we can see them again. I'm thrilled he had as much fun as he did, it also helped that the Rays won 2-1 against Odessa. I can't wait to do it again!

Casey

nice that ur son enjoyed it soo much! spend as much time 2gether as u can.

me being a 19 year old boy, with a very busy dad (manager) that traveled a lot and was always traveling i still enjoy being around my parents.

well. at the age of 15 i kinda moved out, even into another country (from germany to greece) and visited there and international school.

so i still life in greece, my parents in germany.

right now i am in berlin, i took a break from my job and MA to stay 2-3 weeks (including xmas) with my parents and my folks here in germany.

its so nice to be around ur parents. (ppl often think it is embarassing to say such things at my age, but i dare u to move out at the age of 15 and be on your own! :P)

so listen to me when i tell u,

spend as much time with ur family as you can!

in the end it is the most important thing in life..

having a good time with the ppl u love.