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Today is day three without Mommy! I miss Mommy. The boys miss Mommy. Mommy is away on a three day ‘girls weekend’. Much deserved for her. I’m trying to do my best here with the boys, but it tough for me. I have no idea how she does it all day, every day during the summer. She is truly an amazing woman. Wish I could say the same for myself, well, not that I want to be an amazing woman..but you get my point.

Mr. Dylan has started to show off some of his art talent. Here is his latest work!

In a supreme act of fatherhood idiocy I showed Collin how to use a magnifying glass to make smoke (fire) come out of a leaf. He was totally amazed and wanted to do it! Wow, bad idea! I tried to stress how he could not do that without me around, but do my kids ever listen? That would be a big “NO”. OMG I hope he dosen’t catch something on fire! I’m keeping the magnifying glass under tight security for a while, maybe he’ll forget! Ya, and pigs might fly tomorrow!

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Well, last post was a total useless waste of time. Truck is fixed, no additional cost to me. Bottom line is that I had a bad radiator and I firmly believe that the Country Chrysler (geezz..not even a website to link to) dealer in Plymouth, Indiana took me and Chrysler warranty for a ride. I don’t think I had blown head gaskets or a bad water pump, but it was a big fat juicy job for them to bill Chrysler for.

OK, now I’ll step down off of that soapbox and let it go.

WTF is up with this website Christian Domestic Discipline Store. Seriously. No really, is this a joke? I especially like the promotion of the ‘basic crotchless panaloons’ because “These split-crotch pantaloons will keep you cool and comfortable while making your husband very happy.” Ok then, moving on.

From Robotic Intergalactic Astro-Artists check out these free mp3s, “sounds for the space set”. Pretty cool.

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I certainly have been slacking with my blog of late. Too many things going on. Still the work thing that just gets in the way of life, with the arrival of summer there are a ton of other things to do besides sit in my basement staring at the dim glow of my CRT (ya, I don’t have an LCD yet). I am mowing my mom’s yard every week now as well, a nice little trade I have going on with my sister. I mow their yard, she watches my kids so that the wifey and I can get out of the house a couple times a month and attempt to save some shreds of our sanity!

We have been busy with family life lately, we have done a lot of things with the boys; took them to a baseball game, lot’s of trips to the parks and playgrounds, all that fun stuff you are supposed to do with your kids!

Oh, and good news from Laurie’s sister! She had her baby this week and all is well! Laurie is so excited about being an aunt! Congrats to them and their new addition to their family. They named her Laurel (sp?) after Laurie! Such a nice thing to do and made Laurie feel great!

We have our summer vacation all planned out, wich is very exciting for me. I did not take a vacation last year, so I really need one this year. We are visiting Wilmington, NC. We have a whole week there, I’ll try to update while on vacation, but we plan to play on the different beaches, sit pool side and RELAX!!

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I was cleaning out a desk drawer that I have been storing paperwork in for years. Most of it was garbage, but when I came accross this little gem I knew I had to scan it and put it online.

I bought this pc right after I discovered the internet, back in March of 1997. The internet was still very basic compared to today, nothing but dial up back then. .

Kind of funny, I priced the new iMAC I want, along with the specs for it, and the price is very close, but it is 11 years later, what gives! I have MAC fever in a bad way! I want one of the new
dual core Intel machines. They are very expensive compare to a PC, but there is a lot to gain by going with a MAC. I am up for a bonus which is tied to our “go live” of the Cerner project at work. I have been working my ass off for months on this project, so if I get a bonus that would cover 75% or more of the cost I am buying myself one as a reward for all of my hard work and my upcoming promotion to System Engineer for the Cerner system!

Any bonus I get is going to pay bills. Grrr…I really need a raise at work, need to be done paying $800 a month for daycare. This is Collin’s last year at daycare, and technially, he is in their pre-school class! Can’t believe that! Anyway, once he is done there, that will be $400 less per month I will be paying for daycare next year! Ah, such is life! Well, they are beautiful machines, guess I’ll stick with my PC for now

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My wife and I are trying to get more organized and use our time better this year. We each ordered some help from Amazon; I got “Time Management for System Administrators” and she bought the audio version of David Allen’s “Getting Things Done“. We are both going to start listening to the GTD on the way to work and see what tips and tricks we can pick up. I wanted a book with some help on how to get more done at work and to better manage the chaos that is life as a busy Sys Admin. Laurie wants to get the house, work and LIFE more organized to help minimize some of the craziness in our life.

Work is trying to kill me; we are 4.5 weeks out from our go live date and the pressure is really mounting. We still have a lot of work to do and not enough time or people to get it done. I have been working a lot of hours at home and in the office. Friday I did not leave until almost 8 pm, worked a few hours yesterday and may have to go in today to do some regression testing on one of our domains.

Not a whole lot else going on and I have not felt like, nor had the time, to do much blogging lately. I need to find time each day, but it is hard to do.

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I managed to get a taxi from O’hare to my hotel, which was right next door to Midway airport. What a bargin, only $71.00 for the taxi ride. I was warned about the taxi drivers, but man, this guy was an awful driver. Reminded me of a nervous 16 year old. On the gas hard, off the gas, on the brake…we did not stay in one lane for more than a few minutes, he was all over the place. When we finally got to my hotel, I handed him my credit card to which he says “I thought you pay cash”. We never discussed payment, and I specifically asked for a taxi that took cards. He ran my card, or said he did, and it was declined. So, I produce another card, to which he explains that he cannot run another card and that I must get cash! I could tell I was getting some serious bullshit at that point, but I did not feel like messing around with me. I went inside and got him his cash. The lady at the desk said he just didn’t want to mess with the paperwork.

My hotel room is great, so far I have been really happy with every Holiday Inn Express I have stayed at. I used the taxi service that the hotel staff called for me today, he was very friendly and took my card with no problem. That only cost $36 to get to training. Shame on me for forgetting the address, I knew it was on W. Monroe, but not sure of the address. The cabby dropped me off a 555 W. Monroe, I found a coffee shop and fired up my laptop. I finally figured out I needed to be at 230 W. Monroe. No big deal, took a nice brisk walk the few blocks down. I am in the Caribou Coffee shop accross the street, paying $4 for some wi-fi accss so I didn’t not have to sit here and stare out the window for an hour…I am an hour early because I thought class started at 7:30, but they don’t start until 8:30! Man, I really have a lot to learn about travelling for business.

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Ok, hate is such a strong word, but I seriously can’t stand most smokers. Yes, I know, not all smokers..etc, etc, but from what I have observed over the past 20 years of my life…it is a very high percentage of smokers are this way.

First of all, let me say that I believe that most smokers would never toss a empty pop bottle out the window, yet they have no problem taking that one last cancer causing drag off of their butt and flicking it out the car window or on the ground! I have nearly gotten out of my vehicle and picked up a recently tossed butt and thrown it back in the person’s car. Why it hell do they think it is ok to throw that shit down on the ground? Just shows how ignorant they are. Not only am I going to PAY to get cancer, I am also going to disfigure every sidewalk and road side I travel because dammit I have RIGHT to litter my butts all over the place. Oh man, I love it when someone who smokes (Audie) comes to my house and throws his butts down in my driveway, or flicks them on the road by my house. I really appreciate the respect you are showing for my house. Next time I visit a smoker’s house I am going to just throw my empties on the ground, see if they have anything to say about that! Of course, at my house I don’t put up with it, I tell them to pick up their butts! I was at my mom’s house on Saturday and he had thrown some down in her driveway!

I also just love it when you pull up to a light and see that some moron has dumped his ashtray on the road. Yes!! That is the way to take care of your community, really makes it better for everyone. Hey, I have an idea, the next time you stop at a light, grab all those empty Starbuck’s cups off the floor or your vehicle and toss them out the window! I know I’d love to see more of that kind of shit, really makes my surroundings better. Why can’t we all just be like smokers and throw our garbage on the ground?

Here is a hint to you the few smokers who may have a brain cell or two left….keep your trash and your smoke to yourself. If you smoke in your car, roll up the windows and keep the smoke and your litter to yourself, we don’t want it anymore! Jerks!

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