17 January 2009

Finally, Metallica back on tour in the US. They'll be in Philly on 17 Jan and Chicago on 26 January.

Think Heather will go with me??

Vacation Photos

Double Rainbow

This is one of the best rainbows I've seen. You could see it from one end all the way to the other. If you look close enough, you'll see a partial second rainbow.

You can always count on Cavuto

to put things in perspective.
I can't get the embed to work, so I hope you all take the time to watch this video.

Click anywhere above to go to the video.

Orchestrating the Leaving...

I've had my share of practice at leaving.  After joining the Army, leaving for Texas, then Korea, then Texas again, and finally Pennsylvania, I've had the opportunity to improve on what I privately call, "Orchestrating the leaving."


Anybody who has ever left home or a loved one(s) knows the feeling of the storm growing as the days and hours and finally the minutes draw closer to the time of departure.  I've learned that leaving is hard on everybody, not just yourself.  It's important to take everybody into consideration and to try and make it as easy as possible on everybody.  Mothers, in particular, are fragile.  So my rule of thumb...Make it quick.  It's easier on everybody.  Don't stand around and invite a lot of people over a few hours before you leave.  Everybody will just be anxious dreading the moment when you get in your car or get on your plane and go.  It's no fun for anybody.  So make it a drive by.  Hey, I'm leaving.  See you later.  Then run for the door and don't look back.

I broke my standing order when we left Illinois last week.  We had the family over for a cookout and pictures a few hours before we were due to leave.  When my mom walked in the door I knew it was not going to be pretty.  Everybody tried to pretend we weren't leaving in a few hours, but it didn't work.  As the time for us to leave drew closer, there were knowing glances from husband to wife, wife to daughter, son to mother, etc.  Yes, we were telling each other.  The time is getting close, and I am trying to keep it together.  

Soon, Jenna, whom we were leaving in Illinois for an extended vacation, was wrapped in her mother's arms as they cried unashamedly in front of others.  That tore me up.  My old man was outside, and it wasn't because it was nice out.  Even he was afflicted with the anxiety that was hanging over all of us.  

Then the time came for final hugs.  The entire family was outside for all the public to see as we said our goodbyes and wiped away the tears.  It was nearly unbearable.  So much pain being experienced by everybody.


Something that would have been a lot easier had I done a better job at orchestrating the leaving...

Top 10

While at work the other day, a co-worker and myself used a white board to list out our top 10 songs.  We couldn't have been more different!  There's no sex pistols or Elton John on my top 10.  We decided to create a CD with out 10 top and swap them.  But what's a top 10 list without the stories behind them?  So here's my top 10 list with the reasoning behind each of them.  After all, the song is only a small part of the story.  It's the emotions or the memories they stir that tell the real story.

These are not in order.  That would be much too complicated.

Alright Guy, Gary Allan 

I like to think the spirit of this song is me.  I've done some stupid things, and I'm a little rough around the edges, but hey, I'm an alright guy.

 "Now I'm stuck in this jail with a bunch of dumb hicks, and I still don't know why..."

Coma, Guns N' Roses

At just over 10 minutes long, this is epic.  Wherever the song takes you, it always brings you back to the same rhythm.  Each time you listen to it, you discover something new.  A true piece of lyrical and musical art.  A very complex and complicated song.

"No you don't need a doctor, nobody else can heal your soul.  You got your mind in submission, you got your life on the line, but nobody pulled the trigger, they just stepped aside..."

Stupid Boy, Keith Urban

When I first heard this song, it was just ok, but it quickly grew on me.  You can feel the emotion and the pain building throughout the entire song until it finally explodes during the guitar solo at the end.  I tried to get my wife to understand this, but she never looked at songs this way.  After seeing Keith play this in concert, Heather finally got it.

"and you stole her every dream and you crushed her plans..."

Brown-Eyed Girl, Van Morrison

A song about a girl...

and a time we danced; the look in her eye.  I had put that sparkle in her eyes...


Where Ever I May Roam, Metallica

An anthem.  You couldn't turn on MTV without seeing this video.  This song makes you want to go and conquer the world, or at least the day.


"to this game you stay a slave..."


Every Now and Then, Garth Brooks

This song is myself and my friend Brian sitting in his truck.  He'd blare this song and we'd sing along.  He always sang it with such passion, and sometimes I think he forgot I was there.  It was like this song took him somewhere, to somebody.  To this day, I don't know who he longed for while singing this song.  He died many years ago.


"I heard a song on the radio just yesterday, the same one you always asked me to play.  And when the song was over, I wished they'd play it again.  Yes I do think about you every now and then"

Long December, Counting Crows

There's so many gems in this song.  "the feeling it's all a lot of oysters, but no pearls."  "Maybe this year will be better than the last."  "We talk like lions, but we sacrifice like lambs."   A song of depression, of hope.  Whatever you want it to be.


Pour Some Sugar On Me, Def Leppard

The song written with lyrics to fit the riffs.  This is 8th grade all over again.  I had the shirt.  I had the hole in the jeans.  I had the cowboy boots.  I had the hair (still pissed at my mom for not letting me grow it out even longer).


"Love is like a bomb baby c'mon get it on, Livin' like a lover with a radar phone, Lookin' like a tramp like a video vamp, Demolition woman can I be your man"


You Look Good In My Shirt, Keith Urban  (Original Version)


This makes Keith the only artist with 2 songs on here.  The first time I heard this was at his concert in Philly.  I was completely blown away.  What a clever, energetic, and fun song.  Heather and I couldn't stop talking about it.





Black, Pearl Jam

Probably number 1 on this list.  I remember many nights sitting in the dark listening to this song over and over again.  This songs compels you to be moved every time you hear it.  Who can't feel his pain as Eddie wails...

"I know someday you'll have a beautiful life, I know you'll be the sun in somebody else's life, but why, why, why can't it be, why can't it be mine... 

Credit deep_schismic's




Honorable Mention...


Girl School, Britney Fox

This song rocks!!!!  The guitar and drums come together perfectly.

Father's Day 2008

Just another quick post. Happy Father's day to my old man.

More pictures. Tired of them yet? We'll be going to our first NHRA race on Saturday, so we should have some pictures other than our dog and kids. We're getting the VIP treatment all for free courtesy of Castrol (since they sponsor John Force racing). Even get to meet him and Ashley force, along with some other drivers. Too bad I don't have anything for them to sign. Should be interesting nonetheless.

Guess what, guys! More pics.

Here's a pic that Heather took with they were at the beach. I really like it.




And another slide show. I tried for 2 days to get the pic of the creek.



Notice Zippy in the water behind the close up of Ainsley. Zippy looks like he is laughing in the last picture. If only we could get him to get some pictures without the ball in his mouth.

The Creek...Again

I dragged the family out of the house early this morning so we could go play at the creek. The last time we were there, Zippy laid down in the middle of the water. When the current took the ball away from him, he got up and got it, then went back to the same spot and laid down again. He did this about three times before he finally gave up. Of course, we did not have the camera then.

We've been using these creek adventures to practice our camera skills. If only I knew what I was doing on Photoshop Elements. These are unedited, except the black and white.

Oh well. Enjoy the pics.

Fun with the Dog

A neighbor of ours has a female lab that is 1 month younger than Zippy. She told me about a park that has a creek running along the side of it. Her lab had lots of fun playing in the water, so we decided to take Zippy.


Zippy is not trained for off-leash activities, so the first time I took him I went by myself. We walked up to the creek, and he just kept on walking right into the water. I know labs are known to be water dogs, but I always wondered what Zippy would do if given the chance to play in water. Before long, he was sloshing around and having a good time. I brought along his second favorite ball, so he had a fun time chasing it around in the creek.


Now that I (we) had our confidence level up, we took a family trip to the park. We had such a great time. It's just wonderful to see him out there running and having a great time. He's able to stretch his legs and not worry about the electric fence. Don't get me wrong. We keep Zippy well exercised with plenty of long walks, but it was great to see him have some freedom (and come back to us)!


It wasn't long before the girls followed him into the water.

Enjoy the pictures. I snuck one in of Ainsley helping me grill out.

Bear Hunting

On Mother's day, we had planned to go hiking as a family. Heather was sick, so I decided to take the kids and go anyways. This would let Heather rest without the kids bothering her.

We went to French Creek National Park and hiked for about 2 hours. Here's some snapshots from our Bear Hunting Excursion, as Ainsley calls it.

Starting our trip.




Ainsley as the line leader.




Jenna makes it across. Does Ainsley?



One pant leg is darker than the other. She must have put it in the drink.




Best line of the trip goes to Ainsley. While pointing to the pictured scenery and in her best southern accent, "That's a whole lotta' leaves right there."




Most awkward moment: Trying to explain to Ainsley why daddy could go to the bathroom, but she had to hold it. Jenna increased her distance between us during this conversation. She must have felt as goofy as I did.

Ainsley, "But I have to go, Daddy!!" "You just went!" "Now it's my turn."

Jenna................walking away........quickly.

Happy Birthday, Heather

Heather turned the big 3-0 on Monday. I thought it would be nice if I managed to throw her a party. I knew she would never go for one, so I decided to make it a surprise party. A few people from her work came, and her friends from Jersey came, too. I think she was surprised, but I'm not sure. It looked like everybody had a good time. I, unfortunately, got a little too happy a little too soon. I managed not to make an ass out of myself. I'm glad the gang from Jersey came. I don't think I would have gotten anybody out to play bean bag toss if they did not come. My team went undefeated. Poor Tim had to carry his team, but Jess did get to school us in CLR. Okay. It's really LCR, but she was feeling a little happy by the time we got around to playing. She had shown me the correct way to make a lemon drop shot by then.

I was given severe reprimands for not having a cake. I was going to make her my dad's special recipe cake on her actual birthday, but apparently that was a rather stupid idea. The girls had to go out and buy one.

That provided me the opportunity to make Tim suffer through my dissertation on NASCAR.

Jeremy (slurring): "You know, Tim, they make half pound adjustments to those tires, and it can mean the difference between a fifth place car and a first place car."

Tim: "Uh huh. Interesting."

All in all, I think everybody had fun.

Happy birthday, Heather!!

By the way, the french onion dip was good to eat. I called the 10 second rule.

The Difference Between Us & Our Neighbors...

Their cats are named: Arthur & Cocoa

Our cats are named: Schmuck & Weasel

It's going to be tough to bridge that divide.

Another Video

I think this is such a neat program, so I quickly grabbed some old pictures and created another video.

Easter Egg Hunt Insanity

Photo by: Richardbh

We took the kids easter egg hunting today. We started out at the community egg hunt, which went pretty well. The dog extraordinaire got to go out and sniff some butts, and the kids were able to get a lot of eggs.

Heather's friend invited her to go to another egg hunt in a neighboring town, so we all packed into the minivan and went. There were a lot of kids there. The kids were broken down into age groups, so I went with Jenna while Heather went with Ainsley. When they called the 7 and older group over, there was almost a stampede to get to the starting line. This stampede was encouraged by the parents. "Hurry up, Hanna!! You don't want to miss out." "Run, Jordan. Run!"

Oh brother.

As the kids lined up, some of the parents were whipping themselves into a frenzy. One mom even went out into the "egg area", for lack of a better term, and instructed her daughter to run to her and to grab "these" eggs. She would stand there with the basket. It wasn't the last time I had to bite my tongue that day.

There was a guy out there keeping the kids at bay at the starting line, and you could almost feel the frustration in the air from some of the parents. "Just let them go, already." As the guy was talking, some of the kids started to go, and then a parent yelled, "Go, Billy!!" and a massive wave of children moved forward. So much for ready, set, go.

It took less than a minute for all the eggs to be scooped up. Some kids did not get any. As I was walking towards Jenna, one parent was berating her child because she did not get any eggs. She wasn't aggressive enough, according to the mother. The child was near tears, being yelled at in front of all these strangers. If I would have had an egg, I would have walked up to her and given her one. It would have provided me the opportunity to tell the mother to go fuck herself. Real mature, I know. Sometimes you have to tell people like that their behaviour is not acceptable, and telling somebody to go fuck themselves is about as pithy as you can get.

I regret not saying something now.

This was only an Easter egg hunt. I can't imagine what these parents are like at sporting events. Reminds me of playing little league, and having to listen to, "Go, Larrrrrrrrrrrryyyyyyy" from some mother who's only positive in life was watching her pathetic boy play baseball. Man, I felt sorry for that kid. I'm glad my parents sat in the bleachers and conducted themselves appropriately.

Parents these days. I tell ya.

Kindle

I've been enjoying my Kindle since it arrived way back when. I had to wait a little over a month for mine to arrive. There's been many a blog set up to write exclusively about the Kindle, and many groups have been formed for users to love on their Kindle or rant and rave about the long wait time. Amazon has refused to reveal how many they've sold, and they won't say what has caused the delay other than unexpected demand.

Jeff Bezos, after months of silence, has posted a letter on the homepage of Amazon re: the Kindle.

I still love mine.

Photo by bravenewtraveler

I find it easier to be pissed and miserable sometimes than it is to be happy. Being cheerful is hard.

I certainly hope you have all felt the same, or I shall truly feel....miserable.

Like when you get a big ass bonus, only to have big ass bills to pay. Only to have dreamed of the things you could do or buy with what was left, only to have your car need repair 3 days before the deposit hit the bank... and be left with nothing.


Like moving your family to another state for fame and fortune, only to find the fame and fortune wasn't worth dealing with the union loving, lazy ass, back-stabbing, pieces of shit you get to work with.


Like deciding to move home, with or without BP, instead of moving to wherever the next job takes you, only to have that information leaked to family members. Then the reality of the housing market crashes that illusion you hung on the wall right over your big, fat noggin.


Then you see your miserable looking ass in the hallway mirror, and you realize you've been acting like a chump. And you are no chump.

You realize you are debt free (ok...except the mortgage), and you should be thankful you got the bonus. Besides, your wife didn't mean it when she said you could go to London without her. And hey, those repairs were cheaper than a new car, and she's running like a hot rod now.

You realize the move has made you stronger, professionally and personally. You figure out those lazy bastards at work are really leadership challenges in disguise, and you have the skill set to turn them into performers because that is why you were chosen to come to this miserable place in the first place.

You realize you still have things you want to do while you are away from your family. Gettysburg still awaits, as does another trip to DC. You are on the downward slope, and it is only a matter of time now before your children will see your parents on a regular basis.

And you learn to stop your bitching and crying.

And you learn to wash the negativity from your mind, because that is not who you are.

Life. It's Not All About You.

It's been a crazy week. I've been putting in 12-14 hour days making sure the inventory that was scheduled on Friday and Saturday went without a hitch. This was another opportunity for me to put another tick in a box for yet another process I have improved since coming to Warminster 15 months ago. That's why they asked me to come here, and that's why I came. I'm chasing those bigger jobs with bigger pay so I can have bigger toys and the bigger influence and responsibility.

Heather was sick all week. She was sick enough to go to the doctor on Friday and get 3 different meds. Sorry, Heather. I know you're sick, I told her. But they put me in charge of this inventory so I have to see it through. I'll be home as soon as I can. As soon as I can always meant when the kids were already sleeping. Even though she was sick, she took care of the kids while I put in the long hours.

On Thursday, the day before inventory, Jenna had an assembly at school. Part of the assembly was to recognize the student of the quarters. Jenna was one of them. I didn't go. There were too many batch cards to be closed, scales set up and other important things that needed to get done before freezing the books of all transactions. Somebody needed to be there to make sure it all happened, and that somebody was me.

Life. It's not all about you. The person who has been trying to teach me that is my old man. He never got wrapped up in himself. He worked, and he worked hard. He never complained. It was what it was. He still found time to go to all my baseball games, and helped coach a few years. He even spent some time on the baseball board. He went to college at night, and taught Fire Science courses for a community college. And he still made my games.

He's been a volunteer firefighter since....forever. He's given thousands of hours of his personal time helping others and the community. It doesn't matter if it's 1 am or 1 in the afternoon, he goes to all of the calls. It's not about him. It's not about having a flashing blue light in his car. It's not about firefighter decals plastered everywhere. It's about helping others. He identified a serious gap in training way back when, and he went above and beyond to fill that gap. As one chief in a neighboring community told me a few years ago, Mike Pruski has done more than any other person regarding the professional development of all the surrounding community fire departments. This chief serves 30 minutes away and 3 towns over from where my old man does. The sphere of influence is larger than that, and he did it all while thinking of others, not himself. He was trying to teach me a lesson.


My old man turned 60 today.


I forgot.


No present. Not even a card.


I was too wrapped up in my own little world worrying about an inventory that in the grand scheme of things was insignificant.

I remember looking at a black and white picture of my old man in the Air Force in Thailand. For a few moments, my brain was trying to register how I was in a picture taken during Vietnam while in Thailand. I looked just like him then. Heather and even my mom like to tell me how much I'm like my dad. My mannerisms, the way I smile, the way I act and even the way I look.

Nothing could be father from the truth.

The inventory went without a hitch. What used to take 1.5 to 2 days was completed in under 1. Instead of feeling good about my accomplishment, I sit here ashamed. I should have gone to Jenna's assembly to show my support for my daughter who was student of the quarter. I should have gone home and taken care of my sick wife.

I should have gone home to be with my dad on his 60th birthday.

Daytona 500

Damn.

Conversations with Ainsley

It's been just Ainsley and I for the most part this weekend. She's been a ton of fun. Here's just a snippet of some of our conversations.

While in my car heading to the grocery store:

A: It smells. It smells like Zippy's poop.

J: Did you step in some of it?

A: No. It's you car.

J: My car? What do you mean?

A: Your car smells. Really bad. Very badly.

J: It does?

A: You need to clean it.

J: *sniff* *sniff*

She later picked me out a strawberry air freshener for my car.

While getting her out of the car after returning from the grocery store:

A: (with the utmost sincerity) Dad. Will you call me your highness?

J: Yes, dear.

A: No! Your highness.

J: Yes, your highness.

While watching Orangutan Island on Animal Planet:

A: I see his butt. Dad. Look at his butt.

J: *snicker*

At Blockbuster picking out a movie:

J: How about this one?

A: Seen it.

J: This one?

A: We have that one, you silly goose.

J: We don't have this one? Want to get it?

A: I've seen it, you knuckle head.

Early this morning as were we sleeping:

Weazel: Meow. Meow.

A: Shhhhhhhhhh!!!!

Weazel: Meow. Meow.

A: Weazel!! Go to sleep!! It's not time to get up yet!

Weazel: Meow. Meow.

J: *throws pillow at Weazel*

A: I told you to go to sleep, Weazel.

Friday Night Fun

It was another rough week at work, so what better way to unwind than cooking a good meal while partaking in good drinks.

Won't my mom be proud of this one.