2009 goals.

I can only hope that 2009 will be better than 2008. The outlook is grim but I have set some goals to hopefully make my 2009 the greatest year yet.

1. Help Kristina get Plan Four Started.
2. Cut my debt in at least half.
3. Lose another 15 pounds.
4. Become closer to my 3 girls.

2008

This was a hard year for many and I was not exempt from this. My debt has dramatically increased and my assets have dramatically decreased in value.

But with all this doom and gloom, I still make all my bills every month and have a beautiful family that loves me. I'm thankful that I have made it through 2008 with all that I love. I just hope 2009 is more positive than 2008 was.

Football day.

Yesterday I was able to enjoy the last Sunday of the regular football season. With all the holiday party's and craziness going on I have not been able to enjoy my Sunday football for weeks. Yesterday I popped popcorn and just enjoyed a day of the game I love.

Toys galore

My kids are very luck to have an excessive amount of grandparents to spoil them. My girls have 3 sets of grandparents, and 4 sets of great-grandparents. Jenna had her birthday party at the beginning of the month and now Christmas has littered my home with lots of new toys. This week we will be spending a lot of time getting ride of old toys and finding a home for the new ones.

Taking care of yourself.

Times are hard and people are putting their health at risk. Last night my grandfather endded up in the hospital with pneumonia and severe dehydration. He chose to not take care of his cold and play golf in the rain. It formed into something much worse than a cold. 

Don't ignore your body. If it says slow down you need to do it, or the body will make you sorry.

Odd Christmas.

This Christmas was very odd. I'm not sure what was wrong. I really had a hard time getting into it. I thought I was alone but I talked to some other people and they felt the same way. I never got the holiday excitement I usually get. I'm not sure if it was all the doom and gloom of the economy or what. I just hope the holidays are better next year. But ready for 2009 to be here.

Merry Christmas Sleep???

I was expecting a very early morning today. I have a hard time sleeping in past 7am and so do my darling children. So last night when I fell asleep at around midnight I was dreading this morning. Much to my surprise Christmas morning with a 5 year old I woke up at almost 9am. Jenna was already up and going through her stalking. I got up and we to gifts. It was the nicest morning I have had in sometime.

Merry Christmas everybody.

HO HO HO!!!! Merry Christmas.

This will be the first year that I will be doing the big Santa set up for Jenna. I'm very excited about the cookies she is making for Santa (wink wink) as I write this blog. Santa is going to be lazy this year and put the gift together this weekend. This year we bought the girls one big combo gift. It is a 15ft trampoline. My little helper uncle steve and I will be tackling that fun this weekend.

Cold pain!!!

Running nose, headache and a cough.  I have a cold and it just sucks. I'm fine during the middle of the day but I wake up a mess and I have a hard time falling asleep without medication. This is not helping with my lack of holiday spirit this year. Merry Christmas, hack hack, sniff sniff. 

The 2 week storm has arrived.

Starting today until January 2nd is called the storm at my work. We will deliver more then normal amounts of beer in 8 days instead of 10. It will create a storm of trucks and people to work long hours and very hard to try and enjoy 2,  4 day work weeks. Blogging will become complicated during this dash to the end of the year, but I will do my best to keep all 3 off you informed.

Recovery!!!

Last night was a blast. But today I'm reminded that I'm almost 30 and getting to old to party like a rock star. I had an amazing time with all my friends last night, but it will be some time before I need to be reminded that I'm a dad not a rock star.

Tis the season to party!!!

Tonight is the party I look forward to all year. I have friends in town and it is time for a great time. The day will kick off with lunch at our old high school hang out, Napoli. We will be leaving there to head out to total wine for Cigars and johnny walker.  Then we will head to my buddy Rob's house and get the party started. Good friends, good times, good booze, and good cigars will be the highlights of the evening.

Blah blah Holiday.

I have come to the conclusion that the holidays suck. Especially when you work in the service industry. I have been at my current job for almost 9 years. Before this job I worked in retail. I have not enjoyed the holiday season since I started working. The crap that comes with the holiday season makes me like it a little less every year. I enjoy thanksgiving but after that day I can't wait for January to be here. I don't like being a scrooge but the ugliness of people in December really turns me by Christmas eve. It's seems that people just become rude and nasty and care about nobody but themselves. 

It really ruins the season of giving when everybody is so rude.

Cough relief with a punch in the face!!!

I have found a product that is amazing for getting ride of cough and congestion. I recently suggested it to a friend online. He said it worked. He was happy with the results, but not the product. See the product taste very very very bad. To quote Drewbenz " I don't think one could properly prepare for how horrific this medicine is".  I warned him that it tasted bad and the box points out that it tastes horrible. I laughed at him that day because it had been at least a year or so since I had used it. I guess I had forgotten how bad the Buckley's tastes.

Last night after 3 hours of coughing and hacking. I decided the time had come when I would once again drink the Buckley's. As I took a teaspoonful of the medicine I was quickly paralyzed, my throat was burning, I was having a hard time breathing, I had the worst thing I had ever tasted in my mouth, and I was getting dizzy.  After about a minute or so my everything was normal except, I was left with the most horrific taste ever in my mouth. But my throat felt much better. 

20 minutes later I was fast asleep until my alarm clock went off the next morning. This is one of the greatest products I have ever used for a cough, but it comes at a cost.

I need vitamin D.

I have lived in Phoenix my entire life and I love the sun. I love it so much and I get to see it about 350 days a year. The past couple of days my sun has been hiding and I'm already starting to have withdrawals. Please come back my sun I need to bask in your glow.  I could never live in a place like Washington where it rains all the time. I would definitely become a very angry and bitter person. 

Wet idiots!!!!

Today was a rainy day in Phoenix and people drive like idiots every time the roads get wet. Since it only rains 5- 10 days a year I think we should have rain days like other states have snow days. Today I watch 3 people that should not be on the road when it is wet. The first one was a lady in an SUV that when approaching a yellow light hit her brakes to stop and then realized because the road was wet she was going to fast to stop. Her car slide into the middle of the intersection sideways then she just sat there without a clue that maybe she should get the hell out of the intersection. The second was a women in a small sports car that had spun out in to the landscaping on the side of the freeway. She was facing the wrong way, in the gravel, with a small bush on her hood. The third had gone head on into a light pole at an intersection. I'm not sure how it happened but it was a single car accident. 

If you can't drive please call a cab, take the bus, or just call in sick, on rainy days.

Stupid Yoga.

I went to a couple of Yoga classes about 3 months ago and I really enjoyed them. It had a lot of stretching and meditation. It was a very nice way to start my weekend and just let the week melt away.

This weekend I went back to the yoga class looking forward to some relaxation. I was pushed into turning myself into a pretzel and looking like a complete idiot. Some stupid pose called the twisted child was the worst. I might be a dough boy, but I can't stretch and twist like pretzel dough. I will give it another try, but I will be skipping the advanced poses.

Whisky, Cigars, and Fire. This is man time!!!

Last night the family and I went over to a friends house to just hang out. My good friend Rob and I had a very nice evening. I had brought over some cigars that I thought would be nice for us to have around his new fire pit. He provided some Johnny Walker gold that was a perfect compliment to the cigar. It was a very nice evening and I plan to repeat it next Saturday night when our good friend Brian comes to town. I love to indulge during the holidays.

The 3 week dash to the finish

I'm going to make sure that I enjoy this weekend because come Monday I will hit the door running at 1:45am. As you can imagine the next 3 weeks will be very busy for the beer man. I really consider myself to be the adult Santa. You know, driving around my 18 wheeled sleigh full of presents, of happiness and joy. Enjoy a beer this holiday season and don't forget to leave me out some milk and cookies.

Happy Birthday MOM

Today is my Mom,  Laura Steins Birthday. If you see her wish her a Happy Birthday.

A fat view from above.

Driving in a Semi-Truck I can look down into the cars of everybody around me. I'm not spying or anything like that but when I'm sitting in traffic I look around. Today I was listening to the radio and news story about how fat Americans are getting. So from my view above I decided to take a survey.  I found that out of 60 cars on the road at around 7am 33 people are fat, 14 are chubby, and only 13 looked to be a healthy weight. I found this to be sad and has motivated me to look at my diet and hopefully lose some pounds. I would like to become apart of the minority.

Is big business differnt from big goverment.

So many big businesses have shown us that they are very greedy and only wanted to become filthy rich and powerful. They didn't care how much they've ripped off their customers. 

Now every time I turn around there is a politician that doesn't care about the people he represents,  just about becoming filthy rich and powerful. 

I know it has been going on forever, and there is nothing I can do about.  It is just sad to admit it.

Planning for Plan Four.

The wife and I are finally setting our plan to get our business started. We plan to start our business buy the end of March. I didn't realize that when we got our business license this summer that it would take so long to actually get it start. But we also didn't want to make the mistake of starting before we were ready to go forward with this. Everything is coming together and we are very excited to start this new adventure. 

Great party!!!!

Last night I went to the Arizona Charter Academy Christmas party. I helped coach the high school football team so I was invited. The wife and I don't get much adult time with other adults.  It's nice to be with my wife without little hands in between us. Melissa knows how to throw a great party and I think fun was had by most. I made a 1st grade teacher very mad, but I think she will get over it. She liked the gift exchange game until, I took her gift, that she had taken from somebody else.  I didn't make the rules, I was just able to benefit from them. 

Thank you for letting me be apart of the school and the amazing impact it has in so many lives. I learned that the students impact the teachers just as much as the teachers impact the children.

The X-box push

I think I finally have the wife convinced that we need a X-box 360. I have found a great deal on the 60GB at Target in this weeks add and I plan to go and buy it this week. We recently dropped our direct TV service because I have decided it is stupid to pay for TV when it is available for free.  One big sale on the X-box is the ability to download movies from Netflix for $8.99 a month. Does anybody know how much it cost for X-Box live? I know I will also need this for my gaming system to get Netflix. The wife is afraid she will be regreting the purchase. Please help me sell her on it. 

Loving my town.

I truly love my city. It is not a small town by any means but they do what they can to have small town atmosphere with big city amenities. This weekend they had their annual Surprise party.  Me and my girls had 2 days of great outdoor entertainment for nothing more than the cost of the food we eat. It had typical fair food at the typical fair food price. On Saturday for 4 dollars my daughter got to ride on a train and made beautiful party hats. But for free was so many exhibits and things for the kids to do. It is hard to keep children entertained for 4 hours on a Saturday for 4 dollars but my city made it possible. Not to mention for 2 hours on Friday night with the Christmas tree lighting ceremony, a live band, skydivers, hot air balloons and fireworks for the low cost of $0. During these hard times my city makes me remember why I love to be a proud resident of Surprise.

Holy crap she is 5!!!!

Today my daughter Jenna turned 5 years old. This day has come much faster then I ever expected. We will be giving her the royal treatment tonight with Olive Garden (her favorite restaurant), the lighting of a large Christmas tree that they will keep in town square for her, and a fireworks display in her honer.  So we mite be cheating a little but she will love it. 

I met Jenna for lunch at her school today and it was quiet the adventure. 5 year old kids are a little crazy but hilarious at the same time. I don't know how her teacher deals with that many little animals. 

Pain in the leg.

Yesturday was day 2 back at the gym and I'm very sorry. We did a very intense leg work out and it is very uncomfortable to walk. So I think I will be easing back into the gym and not picking up where I left off 2 months ago. 

Count down to local TV

I have decided to cancel are Direct TV service. December 4Th, tomorrow our billing cycle will end and so will our service. I have found we spend too much time in front of the TV just like most Americans do. My hope is with less TV time we will spend more time as a family and work on getting our business started. I will miss our DVR and watching all my favorite shows, but how did I get so involved in the life of fictional characters anyway? My goal is less TV and a better life for me and my family. 

Not to mention the 50 dollar a month I will save.

Back in the gym.

Me and the wife were going to the gym 2 - 3 times a week for about 2 months until I started football. Then it became much harder to get to the gym.  Yesterday was are first day back in about 2 months. The first day back was a hard one, but this morning I woke feeling better then I had in months and I remembered why the gym is so addicting. The more you work out the better you feel, and the better you feel better your life is. I'm glad to be back in the swing of things.

Another month of me.

I did it For November and have already signed up for December. Another month in the Brain of Stephen Mitchell. Enjoy!!!

Another step into geek hood.

Today I attempted to install CS4 and quickly discovered many problems. So I took after one and replaced my DVD drive that was not reading the CS4 disk. I had problems with it on the last program I tried to install so I figured it need to be replaced. I purchased the new drive and instaled in to my desktop computer. The crazy thing is with no previous knowledge of doing this it worked. I was proud of my self and had a beer to celebrate.

A day of peace.

Today is the first day in a long time the we actually have no plans. We woke up and have just been enjoying time together as a family. Me and Jenna put together a craft project and just watch some TV. Tonight we will be going to spend some time with family but today was some much needed rest and enjoyment. 

Murdered Friday.

So today is the crazy annual black Friday. When people lose what little respect they have for each other and are willing to hurt or kill anybody that is standing in the way of them saving $200 on a Laptop or $300 on a flat panel TV. 

Enjoy these stories of People killed for a good deal. Enjoy you kickoff to the holiday shopping season.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/29/business/29walmart.html?_r=1&ref=business

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/11/28/state/n123739S87.DTL&tsp=1

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

One of the greatest holidays. You eat, watch football, and spend time with family. I love to eat and watch football. Ha Ha.  One think I know I'm thankful for today is to still have a job to support my family. What are you thankful for?

I feel wierd.

It's odd to just come home and have nothing to do. After spending 5 to 6 days a week away from my family in the evening for about 4 months it is odd to have nothing to do. I never thought I would get just as much if not more out of coaching then the kids did. It was amazing to have an impact the future of America. I do have some concerns but I know that I have made a positive impact on some of the kids and I hope they will take what I have given them and become something great. 

After enjoying the rest of the week with my family I will refocus to starting our business. 

Sleeping space.

I'm a very picky sleeper. I like my bed, with my pillow, cool air, complete darkness, and to not be touched. I love to cuddle with my wife and daughters as long as it is not time to sleep. It is the reason I have a king size bed. The wife always makes fun of me and I hate it when my girls come in our bed in the middle of the night and want to cuddle. I can't be the only person that doesn't like to be touched when they sleep. Right?

Stephen's Monday Life Thoughts

Don't just do your job, strive to be the best at your job. If you are a doctor, be the best doctor you can be. If you are the burrito maker at Taco Bell, strive to be the best burrito maker. Having pride in, and comitment to, everything you do. That will always improve your quality of life.

A great season!!!!

My high school football season came to a close last night. It was a long hard year but we ended losing the championship game to take second place. I'm proud to be apart of ACA' s first tackle football program. Considering this is a program we started this year that's not bad at all. I'm already looking forward to next year and the growth of our team. Thanks to all that came out to support our team during the season. I also want to thank all the players and administration for letting me be apart of this team. I was very pleased and honored with the experience. I willing to bet I walked away with just as much if not more than the players.

GO BULLDOGS!!!

GAME-ON!!!! .

So yesterday the school has decided to let the game happen on Saturday. It took some convincing from the students. The current players got with all the guys that had quit through the year and we will have about 18 guys to play today. I will let you know how it goes. I guess they have decided to have 2 armed police officers for today's game instead of the guy with a very lethal flashlight on his hip. This game I'm guessing will go like the Cardinals game on Sunday. I hope my Bulldogs and the Cardinals win to call this the official under dog weekend . We do have a chance but our guys are really going to have to bring it.

GO BULLDOGS!!!!!!

The season of learning.

This football season has been very entertaining and frustrating at the same time. The team I coached this year was very hard to manage. Only about 8 of the kids were truly committed to the team. The others came to practice sometimes and always showed up for the games if they were academically eligible. We had a different amount of kids at every game. We went to games with as little as 11 players and as many as 22. We ended our season with only about 5 of the students we started with in the summer. I hope we have a committed group of kids next year, it makes coaching much easier when you know who is playing every week before game day.

A safe 2nd place

The coaches and the administration have decided to cancel our last game of the season. The team we were going to play has beat us twice in the season and started a brawl 3 weeks ago after we played them. It was a very ugly situation in the parking lot after the game. After 3 people got kicked off or choose to quit after the brawl we where left with 13 guys for the game this week. We had originally decided to play the team again until today when one of our key offensive players was academically ineligible. With that player gone and the fact that only 9 guys were showing up for practice we decided to cancel the last game and take a safe and healthy 2ND place. Being 5 guys short against a team with 45 players and at least 3 very talented players it just wasn't worth a repeat of the last time we played them, or possible worse.

The last stand

This Saturday night will be the last game of the Football season for my team. We are in the championship game and the worst thing that could happen is we lose and get second place. We will be playing West Phoenix High School. This team beat us 2 times in the regular season and I'm hopping for third times a charm. We have the tools to beat this team we just can't let them beat us mentally or it is over. Wish us luck!

Music, mood.

Today I was tiered and not have that great of a day. I was at my last stop and they were playing Christmas music in the store. I immediately smiled and was feeling great about the day. I guess it is all the great memories of the holidays that makes Christmas music brighten my day. I do believe that music is something that can always change your day and Christmas music for me is a nice, happy, warm feeling. 

Stephen's Monday Life Thoughts.

Who thinks this is funny? 

Two college students, a guy and his girlfriend, thought it would be funny to dress up as the World Trade Center and a plane for Halloween. Yes they did crash into each other throughout the night. The disturbing part of this photos is the guy actually has people jumping out of the building. How did they not just get their asses kicked at this party. Nobody thinks this is too far? 

Well now I guess it would be ok for a person to dress up as Hitler and his Girlfriend could be a pile of ashes representing the Jews.

Or 

He could wear a KKK outfit and put his buddy in black face with a noose around his neck.

I just don't see the difference. I don't think almost 3,000 dead Americans will ever be funny or appropriate.

What the hell is happening to this country?

The good times

The greatest time in a person's life, in my opinion, is in High School. You had the positives of being responsible without the negatives of it. Your worst day was when you and your friends couldn't hang out. Every once in awhile I hear a song or see something that takes me back to when I was the dumbest genius I knew. My friend had this car that was a piece of crap, but it was packed full of memories. The Chrysler lebaron permanent convertible. It looked like this and those of you that know it, you have a lot of the same great memories I have.

Picture

Respectful minority.

I have been having a hard time with the world I'm raising my children in. My children will have respect, honor, and commitment.  These are the values that I feel are important in life. But the more people I deal with, the more I realize these values are hard to come by.  The majority of Americans have lost these values and as times get hard, I don't see things improving. 

How do you raise respectful children in a disrespectful world? 

How do you raise honest children in a dishonest world? 

How do you raise committed children in a world of quitters? 

I don't know the answers to these questions, I just hope my children will choose to be the minority like their parents.

A good time to be in a salary job.

There was a time when I didn't like being a salary employee. Working very hard one month with more hours and not making more than the month I didn't work as hard. 

But today I hear about friends that worked 50 to 55 hours a week and had factored the 40 - 60 hours of over time into their monthly income. Now they are not allowed to get over time. This has been a 1,000 2,000 dollar cut in the monthly household income. I don't think I have to mention the poor people that work on commission. I'm just very glad that I still have a job, and I'm not scared of losing my job yet. 

Time for the Playoffs.

My football team has played an amazing season. We ended the regular season with 5 wins and only 3 losses. I felt this was a very good record for our first year of play. The first team we are set to play in the playoffs is Ocotillo. They beat us in the regular season so this will not be an easy game. But I know we can win. Please come out and support us in one of our final games of the year. 

The game will be just south - east of Glendale arena off of 91st ave. The game is this Friday, at 4:30. Please be their to support us.

Busy times for me.

The past couple of weeks at my work have been very busy and my department is doing very well. Right now is a very hard time for many people and too much work is not their problem. So I'm very pleased that I'm very busy with work. It's sounds odd to be happy about too much work since I'm salary and not making any more money. But in this economy too busy is job security. I don't want the extra money, I just want to keep making the same amount of money.

Amazing restaurant in Surprise

This weekend we went to a new restaurant in surprise and had the best meal we have had in a very long time. Vouge Bistro is a very nice place not in the typical location. I know there are restaurant like this in Scottsdale, Downtown Phoenix, or in the Camelback corridor. But this restaurant is in surprise about 2 miles from my house. I highly suggest this place to any adults looking to have a very nice evening with amazing food and drinks.

Stephen's Monday Life thought.

Times are hard and we have lots of stuff. It's time to scale down people. Put down the plastic and start taking responsibility. If you can't afford it then don't buy it. Greed for stuff is the reason America is falling fast. We are hardly a poverty stricken country but if we don't cut back, we will soon find our selves in a pile of worthless stuff. Define the difference between your needs and wants. I'm sure you will find that you need a lot less than you want.

Wow!!! A growing industry.

This weekend I have done some research on buying a gun. I have come to the conclusion that gun sales are out of control. Many people are scared of the new government taking away guns and Arizona not being a state that you have to register a gun,  sales are through the roof. I'm considering joining the club of hand-gun owners. With the economy going to crap, the crime rate on the rise, and making cut backs in the police force. It just seems to be a good idea to protect me and my family through these hard times. I also plan to get my CCW permit so I can carry in public.

All smiles!!!

This time of year is the reason I live in Arizona. It is absolutely amazing weather outside. This year I have an added bonus, my Jeep. I have just taken the top off and I love it. There really is nothing like the cool air all around you as the sun warms your skin to just bring a smile to my face. I really love my Jeep and the outdoor freedom it gives me. If you see me driving around, I'm sure you will hear my radio up very loud and see a smile on my face.

More for less = the same.

I recently sold my 25 to 28 mile to the gallon 88 Honda Accord, for a 16 to 18 mile to the gallon Jeep Wrangler. At first I was concerned about the increase in gas money it would cost me every week. I drive about 50 miles round trip to work a day. So you can see how this would be a concern of mine. Lucky for me gas has gone from almost $4 a gallon to $2.39 a gallon today. My car would go for a week on a tank of gas that would cost about $40.  Today a tank of gas for my Jeep was $41 and it will last a week. The Jeep takes more gas, but now it costs the same amount to fill up as my car did. It's probably not a good thing the stocks are crashing, but I'm not spending more money on gas so that's cool.

Talk radio

For the last couple of months I have been listening to talk radio. Since I'm in a truck all day I listen to a lot of radio. I for some reason really enjoy getting points of view from people that know more than me. I don't let them push their opinions on me but I have learned a lot about the election, what is going on in Arizona, and the world. I plan to continue listening after the election. I just hope they can keep my attention in the months to come. I don't know what talk radio is like without the election coming up, hopefully it is still interesting. If not I can always go back to music to entertain my day. 

Stephen Mitchell's message to President Obama

I didn't vote for you because you scare the hell out of me. I voted for Mr. McCain because he scared me just a little less, not because I thought he was the man for the job. 

You have a huge job ahead of you and I hope that you can fix my country. People in this country have stopped caring about simple things like responsibility, pride, and freedom. I hope you can help this country get back on the track to freedom because that is not the direction we are headed. I wish you the best of luck and I hope you are successful at being the President of the United States. The future of my family and children depend on it. 

Bottom line, just don't screw me.

A day of doom and gloom.

Today is a sad day in American history no mater who wins the election. Everybody that voted today should be sad to know that they voted for one of the 2 dumbass liars. Good luck to all and I hope the winner proves to be better in the White House then he was on the campaign trail. But I have never been so sad to vote for the guy that I think will screw (censored F-bomb) me less. There is really no way to tell since they have told too many lies for me to believe anything they say. This day will go down in history, there is no question about that. I just wonder if it will be in a positive or negative way.

Stephen's Monday Life Thoughts

Why do we hate people we don't know? 

Why do we disrespect people before we respect?

Why do we judge before we know?

This last Friday I was in the middle of a brawl after my football game. It started with fans fighting and turned into about 50 people including my students, fighting in the parking lot after the game. About 10 minutes after they were called, the police finally arrived and peace was restored. I just don't understand how fans started fighting over a high school football game. 

The other reason for the questions is the upcoming election and the division of our country. I can't help but wonder how people will react to the outcome of the election. I hope people don't get out of control because of the poor reactions of a few. 

You get 30 days in my head.

I have not been blogging as often as I would like to so I have decided to join NaBloPoMo ( National Blog posting month). The month of November is blog posting month and I have dedicated to blog for 30 days straight. So stay tuned and enjoy my brain everyday for the month November.

You really want to buy my crap?

Yard sales are one of the greatest things ever created. I love getting ride of my crap to people that actually want to pay me for it.  The greatest thing of all, is they come to my house to do all of this. I will take the last of my crap to the goodwill or somthing like it. But not before I will end up making 100 dollars or so on pure crap I want out of life. 

Thank all and enjoy my crap.

Daily log.

I have started a daily log of everything I do throughout the day. I write down the time and then write what I'm doing. I started it because I wanted to be able to look back and see how I spend my days. I'm on day 4 and it is going well so far. I will continue to do this for a month and then decide if I want to continue it. I have noticed that when I'm asked what I did yesterday I have a response instead of having to think about it. I will let you know how it goes in a month and if I think it is worth it.

Eample:

Thursday 10-30-08

2am-Alarm goes off. Snooze - Snooze

2:25-Out of bed and getting ready for work

2:35-Leaving the house for work.

3:10-Arriving at work.

3:35-Leaving work to go to first stop.

4:15-Arrived at Costco # 1028 for delivery. #2

4:50-Arrived at Costco # 436 for delivery.

6:00-Arrived at Costco # 481 for delivery.

6:40-Reload at the Chandler plant.

7:50-Arrived at Sam's Club # 4829 for delivery

8:20-Arrived at Costco # 644 for delivery.

9:am-Arrive at Costco # 736 for delivery.

9:20-Leaving Costco # 736 to drive back to the Phoenix plant.

10:15-Checking in on the bulk dock.

10:25-Time for paper work and E-mail.

11:35-Leaving work (8hr and 25 minutes at work today)

12:21-Home from work.

1:50-Leave home to pick Jenna up at school.

2:10-At Cobelstone to get the Jeep washed. Jenna and I will enjoy a donut as they wash the jeep.

3:10-Back at home.

3:20-Leave home for football practice. (running late)

5:pm-Practice is over and calling the wife to see about dinner plans.

5:30-At Chipolte for dinner.

6:15-Blogging about daily log and chatting with Chris on Google talk IM.

7:05-Trying to post blog, but blogger is unavailable. 

Cheesy money.

In the past month many things have been in the news about the state of Arizona in a financial short fall. They also say there will be many budget cuts to come in the next year. Within weeks of this announcement I noticed an excessive amount of photo radar going up on all of the valley freeways. Some only 3 miles apart from each other. By January DPS will deploy 60 mobile units and 40 stationary cameras statewide. 20 stationary cameras and 9 mobile units are already working now. I'm OK with getting people to slow down, but as I watch everyday they brake before and gas it after every photo spot. I just want to make sure this is not to cut back on DPS officers. Cameras don't catch drunk drivers.

Needed support!!!!!

This Friday is my football teams last regular season game. We will be playing an undefeated team that is very good. I know that we can beat this team but we need to have a lot of people to help support us. The game is this Friday at 7pm. The field is south east of Glendale Arena off of 91st Ave. Please come and support my boys in their game and hopefully we will make it to the playoffs.

Stephen Monday Life Thoughts.

When the world and people are getting you down. Give a compliment to somebody. It will help you both. We could all use something to lift us up these days.

4x4 Wedding with satellites.

Today I performed another wedding ceremony. It was the most interesting yet, or at least getting their was . It was at the Pioneer History Village at 1pm today. Some crazy stuff happened on the ride to the wedding there was an accident on the highway blocking the only exit to the wedding. Lucky for me I bought a jeep a couple months ago and took a ATV trail through the desert to make it to the road next to the road I needed to be on. I then took a dirt road along the highway to the correct road. This was all able to happen because I was on the phone with my wife looking at a google earth satellite map guiding me through the desert the best she could. This was the first time I was able to get my Jeep out and really have a good time with it. I need the 4 wheel drive to get me through the rocky river bed and through the deep sand in the river bed. I was one of the first people at the wedding and it started about 2 hours late. I was only 30 minutes late with a great story to tell. 

Jeeps rule!!!

I will soon be back to reality:(

The family and I have had an amazing time together in California this week. We really needed this quality time together. Our lives get so busy sometimes we forget the important things like time with each other. Tomorrow we will pack up and head back to reality and stop living these California dreams. It will be good to be back home but I will miss the beach. Thanks to our hosts the Young's and Decaro's we had a great time.

I'm not ready to share.

So one thing that I have had a hard time with on this trip is dealing without the luxuries of living in a single family home. It has made me very selfish because I don't like to share walls or parking with people I don't like or know. I have also missed my central air on a few occasions. 

Apartment living is not for a family of 4 with young children. Children don't walk gently or use an indoor voice. Last night I was up until 11:30 or so trying to figure out what movie the neighbor was watching. I might be able to go back to sharing but I have some growing up to do first. Maybe when I'm 35 or so.

More boats than people. Thanks!!!!

I thought it was a joke when my brother-in-law told me he had a garage full of boats. It was not a joke, he has 2 Kayaks and a row boat all in his garage. I thought this is silly until we loaded 2 kayak's on top of his Nissan Altima and a row boat to the back of it. It was a sight - that is for sure but it got the job done and 6 people had a beautiful afternoon on the water. Thank you, Youngs, for having more boats then people in you home. It makes for a great time on the ocean when we come to visit.

Stephen's Monday life thoughts.

Things don't always improve life, they actually tend to complicate it. More things to do and you have less time for the important things.

   

Vacation weekend leading into the week.

I'm enjoying my visit to Long Beach, California. From the patio I can see the ocean. I have great family that has put me up in their pad, and I'm already starting to feel very relaxed.

Today we walked the downtown area and we are going to a pumpkin patch tonight. The trip is showing me that a simple life is a great life to live. This might sound silly but my life is complicated with things like TV, and a house full of things I don't need. When we get home next week I plan to make my life less complicated . I will be getting rid of our satellite TV with DVR and we are going to have a very large garage sale very soon. I'm looking forward to have more family time and less TV time. 

I hope to find out that less really is more. Not to mention the extra money could really help.

The big let down.

This Friday night at 7pm my football team was set to play a team from Chandler.  When we arrived at the field and we were greeted by 1 referee not the normal 3. He told us that there was a game scheduled at 4pm today but it was cancelled and the league never told the referees. 2 went home mad and 1 stayed. This referee called 2 other referees and they showed quickly. Thank goodness because we can't play without them.

So the referees are ready, lights come on, both teams are ready to get started, the stands are full of support for the teams. But now we are waiting for the league to show up with the down markers, chains, and yard markers. They are a small part, but vital to play the game. Long story short the league let us down and never provided the equipment to play the game. The referees called the game at 7:45pm because we didn't have the equipment to play.

I was very upset not only for my guys but the fact that we have not had a pleasant experience in dealing with the league yet. My thought is: how can you run youth sports that help kids stay out of trouble, builds their self esteem, makes them be dedicated to something and then be completely undependable yourself buy let them down? The people that run the league have no business in youth sports. They are what is wrong with society today, and they are passing it on to the future of America.

I'm sure the administration of both schools will have some choice words for the league and their incompetence after all the money we give them. Maybe I should start a sports league since I care and understand the importance of sports in lives of young people. I know I get it more than the current league does.

Stephen's Monday life thoughts.

Make sure and let yourself be humbled from time to time. It well help you to grow as a person.

Trying to stay healthy

It has been a very crazy couple of weeks for the Mitchell family. All 4 of us have been sick on more than one occasion. It's weired thou because we are all getting different symptoms. So it's not like we have been passing the same illness around for 2 weeks. We are beefing up on vitamins and the girls will be going to the doctor early part of this week. We are on vacation next week and don't want to be sick for that.

Craigslist experience.

I recently chose to sell my 88 accord on Craigslist and it was a great experience. It did take a couple of weeks but 

I got a great price and it didn't cost me a thing to do it. I would recommend selling on this free service before paying 

to have somebody do it for you. Auto trader and the local newspaper do get to a bigger audience than Craigslist but they 

cost money and that takes away from your profits. Free is for me!!!!

The 80's are back, just bigger and faster.

Last week by accident I stumbled upon the series premier of Knight Rider. Knight Rider was one of the greatest shows ever made. I can only hope that this new show will live up to the legacy of the original. The first episode was awesome, but I hope they don't let me down in the weeks to come.

Stephen's Monday life thoughts

If you don't want the responsibility's of an adult, then don't make adult decisions. Discover the difference between wants and needs. 

Grow the hell up America!!!

Just ask it. It knows people that know.

I'm still learning new things about my computer and technology everyday. But with the help of Google I solve most of my problems. The last problem I had was with my Western Digital 500GB external hard drive. I was hooking it up back at my house because I had let a friend copy some of my songs from it. When I plugged it in nothing happened. I thought the worst it was busted, not only was $120 down the drain I had 80,000 songs on it, and all my computers are backed up to it. So after my panic settled down I went to Google and typed in "Western Digital 500GB external hard drive will not turn on." I was taken to a website that told me I could have a bad power supply or there was a power surge and I'm screwed. So crossing my fingers on the power supply I purchased a new one for $20. It arrived and the moment of truth was upon me. It worked!!!! I'm very excited that I did a little research and didn't just trash it.

It turns out Google solves many problems just ask it.   

"Commitment, What is that? " Said America

Commitment :

1.	the act of committing.

2.	the state of being committed.

3.	the act of committing, pledging, or engaging oneself.

4.	a pledge or promise; obligation: We have made a commitment to pay our bills on time.

5.	engagement; involvement: They have a sincere commitment to religion.

Committed:

1.	bound or obligated, as under a pledge to a particular cause, action, or attitude; "committed church members"; "a committed Marxist" [ant: uncommitted]
2.	associated in an exclusive sexual relationship [syn: attached] [ant: unattached]

All of the United States is going into a financial tale spin because commitment is a lost art. So many people have let greed stand in the way of their commitment not only to others, but to themselves. You cannot take a man for his word, you always have to cover yourself or lose out. I hate this 'me, me, me' society we live in. I'm all about enjoying life - just not at the cost of others.

Get off your ass America, and earn what you want.  Don't buy now and figure it out later.

This blog is also brought on by the fact that I have been couching a football team with a lot of kids that don't have the commitment they should have and when I meet the parent I see were they get it. If you are going to be apart of something you must be committed to it. This goes for work, school, sports, family, life goals, and many other things in life. 

Stephen's Monday life thoughts

The influence you give, could be the one that sticks. Just remember the small thing to you, could be big in the view of others.

BULLDOGS WIN!!!!!!!!!!

This Saturday night my Football team the ACA Bulldogs won their game 30 - 12. There were some errors and disciplinary issues that need to be worked on but the team played very well and it felt really good to go out and win. I hope many people will come out to support our Bulldogs this Friday night at 4:30pm at the fields outside of Cardinal stadium. We are looking forward to another great game.

ACA TACKLE FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

Things are looking up

So it's Wednesday and things are looking a little better. The morning started out ruff but this afternoon I'm felling human again. I will still be in bed by 6 or so but that's just part of the recovery process. I don't think I have ever been this sick, for this long. I have had colds that drag on for weeks but never a stomach virus. This started on Saturday and quickly morphed into a 5 day event. It will take my body at least a week to recover and I lost 11 pounds in that 5 days. I'm sure I will gain some back after I rehydrate and start eating again but I would suggest eating healthy and going to a gym for 6 months over my past 5 days of hell. Not worth it at all.

First sick day for me in 8 1/2 years

Yesterday, was the first day in 8 1/2 years at my current job I have called in sick for myself. I have called in twice before but, the first time was when Jenna went to the hospital with RSV. The second time was when Jenna went to the hospital for pneumonia. This is the first time I have called in for myself. My company does not have a sick policy so it is work and get paid or don't work and don't get paid. They do make exceptions for guys like me that never call in but they have to draw the line after 2 sick days per year, no matter who you are. Jenna went to the emergency room this year so this was my second day. From now on this year I must work healthy or sick.

My very ill weekend.

The wife and I have been very ill this weekend. We both picked up a nasty flu bug that would let go. We are just hopping that our children do not pick it up. I have actually stayed home from work today because of the illness that is still holding on. Kristina's started on Thursday and mine started Saturday. I hope to feel better to go to work tomorrow. I can't afford to miss another day.

9 / 11 - Lost focus

Today, I remember that day like it was yesterday not 7 years ago. But the one thing I am having a very hard time with is the fact that Al-Qaida is still around. I have been reading that they are growing and rebuilding their forces. I understand that there are politics involved and we can't use my method of, bomb the hell out of them until they are gone. But if there is a time to start getting out of Iraq it is now. We need to make sure the organization that attacked us so many years ago never grows and will always be smashed down if they ever consider reforming. A growing Al-Qaida is a drop everything and kill situation in my book.
Today I don't care about hurricane Ike, the housing market, the economy, or Iraq. Today I care about killing anything or anyone involved with Al-Qaida.

Deep breath

It's has been a crazy one lately and I have finally had a chance to take a breath and come back to this.
Thursday - My sister and brother-in-law came into town for my mother-in-law's birthday.

Friday - I worked and then had our first football game of the season for the team I coach. I will end that on we have a lot of work to do before our next game. It didn't go very well.

Saturday - The girls had spa day and the boys went to the Bass Pro Shop in Mesa. Then that night we went to a restaurant down town called "Coup des Tartes" and it was pretty good. We left the children and it was a beautiful evening full of color.

Sunday - I started the day rolling over at 6:30am to kiss my beautiful wife on our 6 year wedding anniversary. From there I jumped up and ran around the house getting ready for the 25 people coming over at 10am for a PJ party.
Since the end of the party I have only been working, coaching and trying to recover from a crazy weekend of fun. I think you are all caught up now in one post.

It's under his Pee-Pee.

Last night my daughter threw me for a loop when I was reading her " Dora's big Easter hunt." I love my daughter and all of the colorful new things she is learning in Kindergarten, but tonight it took a second for me to regain composer and correct her.
On one of the pages Dora was given a hint, that one of the eggs is under something that oinks. Jenna pointed and said "Look dad, the egg is under the pig's pee-pee." I took a deep breath to regain my composer and then told her "No honey, it's under his belly." She said OK dad.
I'm sure school is not to blame for the word pee-pee but I do believe it has been introduced into her everyday vocabulary there.

Bouncing with a splash, is so fun.

Yesterday we went to my cousins house for a BBQ. She has a pool with a double spring diving board. It has probably been at least 10 years since I jumped on a diving board and it was as awesome as I remembered. I found my self timid at first, but then I got the hang of the jumping and was flailing high in the air like a tossed cat. I miss the good old days of swimming all summer and actually being a good diver. Pools rule!!!

Stephen's Monday Life thought

Turn off the computer and enjoy life today. It's a Monday, but you are not working. BBQ, park, or just some great indoor family fun for all of us in Phoenix.

It's not only easy, it's cheap.

As you all know I have started a diet that lets me eat whatever I want as long as I don't over eat. We have discovered that it is much cheaper to eat out now.
EX: We would usually go to Chipolte and spend at least $18 - $20. Now we spend around 8 dollars to feed the entire family. Kristina and I split a burrito, Jenna gets a small quesadilla ( Instead of the large that I would eat half of), then we get a side of pinto beans for the baby. This saves us at least $10 - $12 each visit. Now we don't feel guilty about over eating or the cost of eating out.

This diet is awesome!! I have stopped going to the gym because of my very busy life with work, football, and family right now and I still continue to lose weight. I'm averaging about a pound a week. The diet is amazing and I can't wait to get back to the gym and watch the pounds melt away even quicker.

Mutual Growth

I have for about a month and a half now been helping to coach a tackle football team for Arizona Charter Academy. A great school, with great staff, and kids. I have never actually worked with kids before so this has been a new adventure me. I have been amazed and proud at the growth of my team. In the process of molding these young men, I myself have been molded into a better person. Last night we had a practice scrimmage against another team. Our guys really got to see what they are made and I was amazed at how well they played. I have a lot of confidence in the team and love playing a part in the lives off these young men. I'm a better person today for being apart of this organization.
Our season is just getting started and I can't wait to see how it all comes together on game day 1 next Friday at 7pm. Don't be late!!!
Go bulldogs!!!!
Season Schedule link

2 weeks of hell = 1 day off

I really hate holidays at my work. I will be off on Labor day this coming Monday but it at a cost of 2 weeks of hell. I have more work to do because of the increased sales during the holiday, but I have one less day to do it in. This week I worked my but off trying to prepare for the holiday, and next week I will be playing catch up since I will be starting a day late. I can understand getting off the major days like Christmas and Thanksgiving but I would just rather work the rest of them.

Stephens Monday life thought

After over week of no radio in my work truck. I have come to the conclusion that silence is gold but music is peace. Silence is OK until you have a 20 minute argument with yourself. Silence breeds anger which leads me to thoughts I didn't care to have.
A great line from 1 of my favorite Cd's.
"Ahhhhh, it's time to relax,
and you know what that means,
a glass of wine, your favourite easy chair,
and of course this compact disc playing and your home stereo.
So go on and indulge yourself,
that's right, kick off your shoes, put your feet up,
lean back and just enjoy the melodies.
After all, music soothes even the savage beast." - Offspring

Too much food.

I watched the last ten minutes of some show about how to be skinny. I have ADD. so I can't watch an hour of some guy going on and on. But the last ten minutes was about everything he had talked about in the show. One point he made was we eat what is given to us not what will make us full. So on a quest to be skinny I figured I would eat what made me full instead of what I was given. I started Monday and cut all meals in half. If I was still hungry I would eat the second half of my meal and if I wasn't I would get a to-go box. It was very hard at first since I have always cleared my plate and then moved on to other peoples until the table was empty of food. It was also hard to see the difference between hungry and habit. But I have not eaten more than half of a meal all week. So that means I have taken in half the calories of the previous week. Not diet just less of the crap I eat.
Example:
At chipolte I usually eat an entire burrito and then help my daughter finish her quesadilla. This week I ate half a burrito and stopped. I was full 10 minutes later and I'm not hungry any sooner than if I was to eat the entire burrito.
So I will not diet any more and I will eat whatever I want. I will on the other hand only eat enough to make me full and not what I'm given. I will continue to report on my progress and welcome all to try this and let me know if it worked for you. You can eat fried chicken every night of the week, you just can't eat the entire chicken.

Some more oversees tech support

So yesterday I had another problem with my Internet so I set out to make attempt at calling Quest again and again I ended up in India. Very frustrated after 30minutes of talk to a person that can't help me I said please transfer me to Quest customer service so I can cancel my service. He didn't have the capability to transfer to another country so he gave me the number. I really didn't want to cancel my service I just wanted them to fix my problem. So I called the number the man gave me and it was the same automated women that sent me to India last time. I told the automated women I want to cancel all my services with you and it immediately transferred me directly to a domestic customer service rep. Laughing at my angry yell at a automated computer, Tom answered and wanted to help me. I mentioned that I had spent over 2 hours on the phone with a tech and he has been unable to solve my problem. My contract is up at the end of the month and I want to cancel my services with you, if you can't fix my service. Tom was very quick to say he will make it right he will just need to transfer me to customer products department to get me a new modem and if that does not fix your problem we will send out a tech to fix it. I had to ask "Tom are you going to transfer me out of the country"? He laughed and said no I wont, but I do get that question a lot.
It's not over. The new guy on the phone wants to charge me for a new modem because mine is no longer under warranty. I nicely told him NO. Then said "my contract is up at the end of the month so please just send me a new modem and I wont cancel my service." The Price of the modem was waved and I only had to pay $20 something for shipping and taxes. I was willing to rest at that point and thank the man for his time. So hopefully on the 25Th my new modem will arrive and it will make the Internet a happier place for me.

Any domestic help?

Saturday night I called Quest my internet provider to help with a problem I am having connecting to my own web site. I think I started in America and I know I ended in India. After I got done with my 2 hour phone call with a man in India, my problem was not solved. But I did find out some wonderful information about India, Internet tech support:

• They do not have the ability to get on the Internet. ( Something I think you would need)
  
• They go through a data base of what the problem could be without seeing what the problem is.
• He was unable to help after we tried everything in the data base. (this took 2 hours to do)
• If you call during normal business hours you get Americans, and after hours you get Abo.
  
• He ended the call after already admitting that he was in India, by saying "and we thank you for being our customer here at Quest."

I ended the phone call irritated and upset that I had just wasted 2 hours of my life that I will never get back. On a man that knows less about computer than me. Thanks for the help Quest of India. I look forward to yelling at an American Monday - Friday 8am to 5pm, about my service that is do for a new contract. I think I will being tell them to piss off or come help me.

Stephens monday life thoughts

Life is as good as you make it.
Everyday for me is just another day in paradise. It's not filled with beaches and palm trees, but it could be a lot worse. I'm just fortunate to have all that I have.

My new ride

This week I purchased a Jeep from my very generous grandfather John Atkinson. I have been very interested in his Jeep for some time now and he made me an offer I couldn't refuse. I'm very excited about having such a nice vehicle to drive. My 88 Honda accord is a nice vehicle but it is not a 2000 Jeep Wrangler. Thank you very much grandpa John I am a very happy man.
The Jeep.

End of an insane week.

Our lives have gotten out of control in a hurry. This week started many new things in our lives that we need to adjust to. Jenna our oldest has started kindergarten and I have started coaching a high school football team. I also purchased a new vehicle this week, and I'm trying to sell my old vehicle. I'm sure we will get a hold of things soon but we need to adjust to a new schedule and that is always hard.

Come one come all, it is time for football.

As most of you know I'm a coach for the Arizona Charter Academy tackle football team. I'm very excited for our first season and I hope many of you can come out and see us play. Living in a home that is full of estrogen with very little testosterone around has lead me to really enjoy the man time I'm getting everyday. Please follow this link to the schedule for our team and hopefully you can make it out to cheer us on. http://www.azcharteracademy.com/hs_football_schedule

Go Bulldogs!!!!!!!!

Stephens monday life thoughts (On a Tuesday)

Self Discipline

Working as a high school football I'm trying to teach my players self-discipline. This will help them when things get hard at the end of the game and it's time to dig deep. It's not easy when you are tired, completely drained, with bruised arms, and burping up your last meal to come to the field all pumped up and get seriously physical with somebody. But this is when games are won, and lost.
As I left the practice today I was thinking about what I just taught my players. I started to wonder if I can teach discipline in a world of excuses, self pity, laziness, and quitters. So few have the discipline it takes to really reach the goals they want to reach. If you can learn and master self discipline the world is yours for the taking and you will do anything you choose to do.
I found this article on "How to build self Discipline". Please read and start being the person you want to be. This article will be passed out to my high school football players, who are going to be the future of the world.

26 digits

I found a man with 12 fingers and 14 toes. Make sure look at both pictures of the proud man.
26 digit link

End of the world!!!

Near Geneva, Switzerland physicists are building something a little crazy. I have linked up a video and articles about the large hadron collider. They don't think it will end the world, but it could. They say it could create Microscopic black holes, strangelet, magnetic monopole, and supersymmetry. The first link is the video and it seems like a really bad idea to start this thing up after watching that. But I am no physicist so we will just have to see what happens. I hope they don't just screw us all with abnormality's or blow up the sun so we suffer. I want it to be either successful with no complications, or just blow this mother up.

Video Link
Article link
Wikipedia Link

Stephens monday life thoughts

A little research is never wasted time. Wasted time is going in having no idea.

I recieved a double wep

This Saturday I spent fighting my computer network and my 1/2 knowledge of it. I have never been able to get my second laptop on my wireless network for Jenna and I never understood why. Then when I went to set up my grandmothers laptop on my network it also didn't work. I printed out my network settings hand type my wep code and it would say I was not able to connect the network. I figured I would just reset everything and it should work, right.

How it broke down:

• I reset the modem which I was thinking should help. It erased all setting and required a phone call to Quest to get it get back on line. But not before I messed with it for awhile.
• 1 1/2 hours later I'm back were I started just more frustrated.
• I attempted another round of manual set up and set up through my jump drive. Still failing and not understanding why.
• So lets try the reset things again. I reset my wireless router this time. Now I have no Internet connection to any computers and I'm being asked to for a user name and password with no clue as to what that would be, I'm completely frustrated. Another hour has gone by and I need to clear my head.
• A buddies birthday party and 4 beers later I'm feeling better.
• When I got home I bypassed the router and plugged directly into my modem to do some research on my wireless router. It turns out when you reset it has a default user name and password.
  
• On my way to recovery, I hope.
• I get in to my modem and start to set it up when I see a different set of wep codes then I was using to set up my network. A light turns on in my head and realize, I have 2 wep codes. 1 for the router and 1 for the network. You can't log into a network without access to the router.
• Now I quickly solve a 10 minute problem in 4 hours. But I walked away with 4 hours of knowledge about my network and computer.

I hope you all enjoyed and learned from my 1/2 knowledge of my computer. Join me for the next installment of Stephen Vs. the dumb computer.

Huff, huff dead

I saw a guy die today, I think. When I pulled into my last stop today I say a guy rolling around under a tree across the parking lot. I just figured he was drunk and just catching a nap. When I went into the account I told the manager and he called the police. When I came out from completing the delivery a lot of police, and fire trucks were over where the guy was and an ambulance was driving away. The manager was outside so I walked over and asked him what had happened. He said the man was surrounded by 15 empty cans of furniture polish and unconscious. He also said the paramedics were trying to revive him but when he left in the ambulance he was still unconscious. So I guess the guy was huffing and 15 cans later I guess he was done. It was very odd because I thought I saw him move when I pulled up. 30 minutes later he is dead. This just happens to be the same store I seen a car catch fire and blow up near the gas pumps on Monday.

Disrespectful relief.

So I paid only $3.91 for gas yesterday and was relieved and insulted at the same time. Last year I was so upset when gas was over $3.50 a gallon, when it went down a little I was happy again. Two years ago I was pissed when gas was over $2.50 a gallon, when it went down a little I was happy again. Now gas has gone from around $4.20 a gallon to $3.91 and I'm still pissed that they want me to be happy about paying a dollar more a gallon than I did last year. I don't want to pay $4.20 a gallon again but I will not smile, or get excited about $3.91 either. Screw the stupid oil companies for making us pay more every year and then lowering it just enough to shut us up.

Stephen's Monday Life Thoughts

When cleaning and organizing your home, less really is more. Get rid of the crap and enjoy a life with less crap.

Another color

Last night we decided to paint our old office. It will be the room that our girls will be sleeping in so it had to be a feminine color. We painted it a light shade of purple. This is now the 7Th color (not counting white) in our home, and we are not done yet. We need to paint one last room and that is the master bedroom. Not sure when that will happen but possible this summer. I hate to paint but I really enjoy color on the walls.
How many colors are in your home?

Dork growth!

I'm becoming a dork!
Everyday I learn something new about computers and I'm becoming pretty good at dealing with them. My grandmother came to me with a problem. Her computer took a crap and all of her genealogy was on it. The computer being from 98 I told her it wasn't worth repairing if I could get the info off of the hard drive. I purchased her a laptop from dell, took the hard drive out of the old computer, opened up my desktop tower, plugged the hard drive in to it, then transferred all the information on grandmas old hard drive to a jump drive, then I loaded all the information into the new laptop from the jump drive. When I was done, I sat there for a minute in disbelief at what I had just done. I have never taken a computer class in my life. But everything that people have taught me and the things I have learned on my own. I'm becoming a computer guy. Or at least to my grandma that has been working with windows 95 the past couple of years.

Minus my cut.

We sold our old home about 2 years ago. Since then, we have been getting calls and letters from many different people wanting to give us 1,200 dollars that is owed to us by the government. But there is a catch, they want their cut of the money owed to me. I'm very confused about the whole thing and was hoping somebody out there would help shine some light on this subject. The first 5 - 10 people I just figured were a scam but now we have had like 20 people contact us on this. I would love to get 1200 dollars these days but it is weird. They don't want money up front either.

Stephen's Monday Life Thoughts

Not sure what is worse getting older yourself or realizing how much older your parents are getting. This weekend my dad turned 52, and I remember his 30th birthday. I will be 30 next year, and it's a little scary to remember my dad at my age. Do you remember your parents at your age?

Doing a manly Tiger pose. Right?

On Saturday for the first time ever I tried Yoga. Walking into a dark room, with 12 women, me being the second man, and the silly rain forest music, I felt my man hood being questioned as I giggled at the idea of becoming one with myself. But I decided I would give it my best and see if I liked it, or if was just some silly thing for chicks. It took me 20 minutes or so to get over myself and actually start to enjoy the class. The more I relaxed the deeper into my own little world I went. Before I knew it an hour had passed and I was completely relaxed. I never thought I would walk out of a Yoga class willing to face the day with a deeper feeling than before. It's not just another Saturday it's a great day to be alive and enjoy everything life has to offer. Yoga is the way I hope to start every weekend. I do need to work on my core strength to help with my balance, I had a hard time on one leg. But I think I mite actually be sore from a class that is just a lot of breathing and stretching.

Flat Furniture.

Yesterday we finally put together the last piece of Ikea furniture for the office. It has been a 3 week project that is finally over. Every time I buy a piece of furniture that comes in a flat box, I always say I will never do that again. Apparently never, means until the next time. I always forget what a pain in the butt it is. But now we have 2 desks, one large file cabinet, and 2- 3 drawer storage units. We are now one step closer to opening our business.

Influencing Children.

Last night I had the first meeting about the football team I will be helping to coach this year. I'm getting very excited to enrich the lives of many children. Coach Mitchell just sounds funny but I think I can adjust to it. Our first practice will be on July 28Th. This is the first year of the tackle football program at this school, so things will be a little unorganized at first. But I think we will be able to put together a great group of kids.

Garage workout!

Today as the family and I went to go to the gym our garage door broke. 1 and 1/2 hours later I finished fixing the door. I put all the wheels back on rewound the pulleys and had it running great. Working in the garage in phoenix for that long at 3pm is a good enough workout for today.

Stephen's Monday Life Thoughts

After a very busy and expensive weekend the thought seemed simple this week.
Dreams are not easy or cheap. But hard work is the only way they may come true.

The virtual assistants, assistant.

This weekend I have been organizing and gathering information to start our virtual assistant business. I'm very luck that I know some people that own a business similar to the one I'm starting. Their business is small and almost completely online. They have answered all of my e-mails with a great wealth of information. I would not even consider starting this business without there opinions. They are my inspiration and I can only hope to be as successful as them one day. Thanks for everything Chris and Ong your my savior.

Holy crap!!! I must have one.

A lot of thought went in to this product. I want a jack doll for the kids.
http://www.thebrowncorporation.com/

Your dog does not have shoes you idiots.

In Phoenix the summer heat can be very intense. The black top can easily reach temperatures of 150 degrees. For some stupid reason I have seen a large amount of people out walking their dog at the hottest part of the day. I'm not sure if the people think since it is so hot they will lose more weight or what. They jog or walk along in their tennis shoes as they scold the feet of their poor dogs. How can you be so stupid as to think it will not harm your dog in any way. If you are stupid enough to go out in the extreme heat. Please leave your dog at home or take of your shoes.

Truth in advertising.

I found this sign on the side of the road. I could not pass it up without taking a picture. Most politicians are schmucks. I just never thought I would find one with that name already established. http://teamschmuck.com/

MMMmmmmm, My $10 jug.

My brother in-law has turned me on to a great wine. A gallon of Carlo Rossi - Paisano. It has a screw on cap, is only $10 bucks, and tastes great. It is a table wine. But don't let the cap, or the price fool you it is a pretty good. I'm not a wine drinker, so give it try and let me know what you think.

Stephen's Monday Life Thoughts

You must dream, before your dreams can be reached. So for 10 minutes or so on this depressing Monday, close your eyes and just dream. I suggest finding a quiet place like the bathroom. I love to dream in there. It's cool, quiet, and it's much more peaceful than the office.

Lost holiday.

This past week has been out of control, but we made some serious head way in our office. It has been transformed from a pink baby room into a very nice office. I did lose a holiday weekend getting it done, but I think it will be worth it. In case you didn't know, the wife and I are on our way to starting our own business. We have applied for our business license and will be open for business in the next month or so. I will of course announce the grand opening of our business and what we will be doing when our name has been approved.

Insane Week!!!!

I entered my Monday work day excited and refreshed after vacation. That all quickly changed when I walked into the fire storm of an insane week. As you can probably guess July 4Th is a holiday that people will be drinking allot of beer. Especially with the holiday falling on a Friday this year. I get to do more work then I usually do in 5 days in 4. To add to the work mess, Kristina and I have started a with our personal trainer 3 times a week, Jenna started swim lessons Monday to Thursday, and our home is limbo from my office remodel project. I can't wait until Friday when I will have the day off so I can get some work done. There is something not right about that. I guess vacation is over and I must return to a normal life:(

Stephen's Monday Life Thoughts

Even if you live on the internet and phone. Disconnect for 2 days and spend time with the ones you love. You will find you can live without them for a short time and the reward is very pleasant.

Bedroom remoded into an office.

Me and the wife are moving our youngest daughter Mikayla out of her room next to ours and making it our office. She will be in the room next to her sister what is currently our office. We have allot of work to do. After emptying Mikayla's current room we will be riping up the carpet, laying down Bamboo wood floors, painting the walls, building some new desks, and file cabinets. I was hoping to get all this done this weekend, but I will be putting allot of it off until next weekend. Unfortunately this will leave us in limbo for a week. I will post before and after pictures when I'm done.

My green Grandma

During this week I spent 3 days with my grandmother in Payson. I have always laughed at how frugal she was. The type of woman that would give you a loan for a new washer and dryer, but wash her clothes in the tube and dry them on the line. As I have become more aware of making less of an impact on the plant I realized grandma is the greenest person I know. She doesn't throw things in the trash she recycles them in her home. She even saves her wash water, and rain water for her garden and trees. The bags mite be thin but she will use a bag 4-5 times when I would use 4-5 bags. It's funny that what was once cheap, is now Eco-friendly.

Where has my brain been?

I was on vacation. I went to the white mountains of Arizona this week on my vacation and almost completely disconnect from technology. We did have satellite television and a coffee shop hot spot.
But I only went to the coffee shop one time all week. It was nice to take a break from technology and have a great time with my family. There is nothing like the woods to recharge the batteries and spend quality time with your family. It was nice to slow life down and enjoy it.

Stephen's Monday Life thoughts.

Plan ahead, but don't worry about the future. Life is better when you deal with problems as they come, instead of worrying about them until the day the come or don't come.

Would you have IT removed if you had 2

I can't decide if this boy is lucky or unlucky. A baby boy was born with an extra penis. The only problem is that it was in the middle of his back. They performed surgery to have it removed but I feel they jumped the gun and should of waited it out to see what happened. I just have to many unanswered questions now.

Guy, Dude

A couple of days ago I received an email from a person I have never spoke to on the phone or met in person. We have only exchanged a couple E-mails. He is a regional manager dealing with distributors in many different states. He addressed me in the E-mail as Guy. He was wondering about my decreased sales in the Phoenix market for a particular chain. But how would you take an E-mail from a person if it said,
Guy,
What is up with your decreased sales.
I felt it was rude and unprofessional, but maybe I'm looking to much into it. Is it that hard to right Stephen, or even Steve, It's only two more letters. I really wanted to respond with Dude but I took the professional route and typed his name.

Feel the burn.

Kristina and I joined a gym and have also hired a personal trainer to work with us 1 day a week. He really works us hard but it is going to pay off in the results. I'm very sore. It is hard to do normal things a day or 2 after the workout but I already fell better one week into our gym membership.

Stephen's Monday Life thoughts.

When you are young you fell invincible because you recover so fast.
As you get older you become wiser because recovery is a much longer process.

We joined a gym

Today me and the wife broke down and joined the gym. We have goals to not be fat anymore. I have decided that fat is not only unhealthy it is also unprofessional. I hope to really become a better looking, healthier person by next summer. I will be posting on my progress to keep myself motivated. Look forward to less of a Stephen over the next year. Same crazy guy just slimmer.

Funniest thing I have ever seen on Nick Junior

I must warn you this clip is disturbingly fun, not ha ha funny. I was laughing uncontrollable because I could not believe what I was seeing. This a bad recording of the crazy song by Yo Gabba Gabba "Don' bite your friends" The recording is really funny in the middle. So make sure you stay and watch the "Bite Bite Bite" and the "Chomp Chomp Chomp".

200 post

I have penetrated the mind of people 200 times now with my crazy life. I love the Internet. Keep reading and I will continue to stimulate your mind with mine.

Pessimistic points of view.

It's hard to stay positive these days. With the economy sucking, gas prices rising, company cut backs, employees being paid less if you don't get laid off, the higher costs of living , and not to mention if you own a home and have lost all your value plus some. I have found myself in the slump called "If only". If only gas would go down, if only my job would pay more, if only I would win the lottery, ETC. I think you get the point of my problem. I'm trying to become more positive and look at thinks that way. My life is actually very good but I choose to look down on what I want and not what I have. This is not easy because everyone seems to be in the "If only" slump. Starting tomorrow I will try to look at things in a more positive way. Thankful to still have my job, spend positive time with my wife and children, stop making excuses and just be glad for what I have and not what I wish or want to have. Life is too short to live it wanting and not seeing and appreciating what you have.

Stephen's Monday Life thoughts.

A clear picture of life would be confusing. It's hard to learn that everything is not the way you pictured it.

Hanging with people I like.

Last night I got to hang out with the Decaro's and the Young's. It was really nice hanging out with people I really enjoy talking to. I had spent the last week working then just going to my empty, quiet, and peaceful home. I didn't hang with anybody. Other than some phone calls and some IM it was a week for me and I. I was really enjoying a little time to just do as I want and not what I need to do, other than the work thing. Feeling accomplished and refreshed I really enjoyed the evening. Except for the restaurant, not really my type of food. 

Save Budweiser petition.

Recently in the news, talks of a hostile take over of Anheuser-Busch have been prevalent. Let’s band together as one voice and try to save more than just our beer. We don’t want another American icon turned over to a foreign company; we want the motto to remain…The Great American Lager.
Let's Save More than Just our Beer.

"YOU'VE BEEN LEFT BEHIND"

I have seen some pretty silly scams in my life, but this one is a good one. I found a web site that for 40 dollars a year they will send 62 E-mails to all of your Non-Christian friends and family members letting them know on the 6Th day of the rapture "You've been left behind." I have a hard time believing that if God does come down to straighten all of us out by day 6, my e-mail will not work anymore.
I picture the E-mail looking something like this.
Dear Tom,
I tried to save you from this day but you never listened. I hope you see now that I was right and you are wrong. Any way it was nice knowing you and enjoy the fires in hell. I hope sleeping in every Sunday was worth it.
P.S. I would stock up on marshmallows and hot dogs if I was you.
Best of luck,
Paul
I'm not against god or religion but come on is this really offering a valid service or just taken the money of Christians. Or at least the Christians that wants to let everybody know "I told you so", as they do a little dance on day 6. I say good luck in heaven if that person is going.

********** WARNING WARNING WARNING **********

I have started up the president site again. I have taken a Stephen Mitchell approach to it. Which is be sensible, but out of control insane. Most of the things I will suggest will be very good ideas that will never work in this country. I hope you all enjoy the site and learn some things you didn't want to know about me. He He. This site will be controversial. You will love it, hate it, or love to hate it. IF NOTHING ELSE, JUST ENJOY IT.

My Lonely Peace

Today is day 2 of no family. It was nice to get allot of things done today but I already miss them. My wife and my 2 little girls left Monday morning to go see the wifes dad in California. I'm strapped to the job and must wait until Friday when I will be on a flight to join them. I don't miss being single and being able to do what I want. I thought I would enjoy the week much more than I am.

Stephen's Monday Life thought.

People can become better, but people never change.

The man on the street catching a buck for his performance.

I have never given a dime to the man on the freeway off ramp asking for money. I work very hard for my money and I fell he should do the same. But for the first time the man impressed me enough to give him a dollar. As I stopped at the red light on the freeway off ramp last Friday the man jumped in front of my truck almost startling me and started juggling oranges. He was a very good juggler and he put on a private show for me for about 30 seconds. It reminded me of the one thing that I loved about NY city, the street performers. Central park on a Sunday afternoon was amazing, they had the Black Santa band, the insane Violinist, and many other performers throughout the park just looking to catch a buck for there performance. I'm the type of person that really enjoys somebody trying to entertain me, and it seems the crazier the better. The guy on the freeway off ramp didn't hold a candle to the people in central park that Sunday afternoon but he was the best I had seen since then, so I gave him a buck for his performance. But if he will be looking for another buck from me he will need to step up his game.

I have been testing my monday life thoughts.

My Monday life thoughts this week was about pointless conversation and I have been trying to change the way I say hi to people and it is much harder than I thought. I have always said "whats up" to the people I walk by at work. This is a very hard habit to change. I haven't asked anybody if they care yet but this will be reserved for people like the guy at Starbucks that really doesn't care. Last week I passed a mangers office and said "whats up Mike" he responded with "good Steve". I never stopped to hear his response and he never looked up from his work when he responded. This just seemed unhealthy and pointless. Yesterday I walked by the same mangers office and said " "good morning Mike" and he responded with " hey good morning to you to Steve". I slowed down long enough to get his response and he looked up from his work to respond back. I feel this was a huge break through in my proper communication development. I didn't ask a question I didn't care to know about but I greeted him without being rude. This is the true point of my Monday life thought this week. Try it and let me know how this goes for you.

24 hour childrens Emergency room.

This weekend, instead of enjoying the beautiful weather with friends and family, I spent it on the 3rd floor of Deer Valley John C. Lincoln Hospital with my daughter Jenna. We chose this hospital because it had this place called Mendy's Place. I highly suggest it if you must take your child to the emergency room. Take them to a place like this. This is Jenna's 3 trip to the emergency room. Her first 2 visits were to Thunderbird hospital emergency room. This is a great hospital but it is for everybody. This time we chose an emergency room that deals with nothing but children. To deal with a doctor that has the bed side manner of a pediatrician and not one of an adult doctor is very nice. Not that adult doctors don't do a great job, they just don't know how to make children feel comfortable and happy. It was a day and night difference in the treatment my daughter received. Not to mention waiting for children and not everybody cuts down on the wait time. Less of a chance of being passed up for a gun shot wound.

Stephen's Monday Life Thoughts.

Do you really care?

Yesterday I hit the drive-thru Starbucks on the way to the Hospital to see Jenna. As I was waiting for my drink the super happy guy in the drive-thru window asked me if I had any big plans for this holiday weekend. As I went to reply to his question he cut me off and said "here is you iced vanilla latte and Carmel machiatto hot, have a great weekend." I realized at this point he was programmed. He had probably asked the guy in front of me and again to the guy behind me about their weekend. He really didn't care what I was doing this weekend. But then again why should he, I'm just some guy getting some coffee. It's like when you ask somebody "what's going on?" and they reply with "good and you." They responded with an answer to the most common question asked without listen to you or your response. They answered with what they were programmed to say.

Today's point is every time you ask somebody how they are doing or how are things, ask your self, do you really care? Do you really listen to their response? I think we have all made stupid, pointless, conversation about something we don't really care about before. Let's stop asking if we don't care. I would rather have you be rude to me then waste my time not listening to my response to the question you didn't care to know about. That to me is not only rude it's a waste of my time.

I used to listen to a radio show that when the host of the show was asked how are you doing, or what is up? He always responded with "do you care?", before answering the question. I always thought it was stupid. But now I see the he just wanted to know that the people really cared before he bothered continuing the conversation. Next time somebody I don't know asks me some personal question, I will ask that person "do you really care?" Maybe this will wake them from their program and actually make them think about what they say to the next person. I might not change the world with my thoughts, but I plan to make some people change the way they talk to me. If your not true in what you say, don't bother saying anything at all.

My daughter is in the hospital.

My daughter Jenna is in the hospital. Jenna started to feel sick after her graduation from pre-school on Thursday night. She vomited that night and 3 more times on Friday. Every time we feed her something like a saltine she would throw it up. We let her go to bed Friday night and she slept the entire night with no vomiting. We thought the worst was over until we let her have another saltine and 3 oz of water. She vomited again so we called the on call nurse Saturday morning. The nurse suggested that we take her to a Kids hospital and not an emergency room. We went to Mendy's place an Emergency room for kids. After sticking her 3 times for an IV they got it then started he on fluids. Her glucose count was at 22. Normal is 100 to 150. After monitoring her for about 4 hours they decided to admit her for the night. Hopefully things will be better today and we will be able to take her home. Jenna does look better today but she is all hooked up to machines. They took blood this morning at about 7am to run blood work and see how she is doing. As long as the blood work comes back OK I think we will be able to come home today. I will be updating my Twitter all day on her progress.

Considering dumping my twitter.

Twitter is having some serious technical difficulty. I really like twitter but if it does not start working again soon I think I will be deleting my account. It has actually become annoying. I'm also looking to simplify my life and this would be one less thing to take up time.

My summer grass is confused.

I'm attempting to get the summer grass to come in but the weather is just confusing it. We have been going up and down about 40 degrees every couple of days. 2 days ago it was 110 and tomorrows high will be 70. That's just crazy. No complaints though, just thought it was weird.

The heat is up but it's OK, for now.

Today Phoenix had a heat advisory. But it's not a big deal to me. I have lived in Phoenix all my life and a hot day is something I have grown a custom to. It's not that bad unless you work outside in the sun all day. In a city that is very prepared for heat you can be very comfortable all day. It's not very often that I'm in temperatures higher than 75 for more than 5 minutes all day. I drive a delivery truck with AC, I then go into a building that has AC, and I go back out to my truck that has AC. It's hot at first getting back in the truck. But I just left a 70 degree building, and about the time it start to get a little hot is when the AC is working and cooling everything off. I have covered parking for my personal vehicle at work, and I park my car in the garage at home. I understand that you shouldn't be in the excessive heat but it's very easy to avoid in Phoenix. The people I feel sorry for is the people living in cities not prepared for heat, and they have a heat advisory. Not to mention, it's a dry heat so you don't melt, you just burn.

Stephen's Monday life thoughts. ( Sorry guys now the link works)

Just be a healthier person.

I was on WebMD the other day and I was looking in to living a healthier life. I wanted the all in one health benefit that would relieve all of my problems in a small amount of time. I found the most amazing advise and felt it should be shared.
This all in one helps you to:
Relieves Stress
Boosts Immunity
Burns Calories
Improves Cardiovascular Health
Boosts Self-Esteem
Improves Intimacy
Reduces Pain
Reduces Prostate Cancer Risk
Strengthens Pelvic Floor Muscle
And Helps You Sleep Better
This is an amazing article telling you this all in one amazing cure to many of life's problems. I was impressed one how willing I was to be healthy and I think you will feel the same way. Don't just blow this off as some joke. This is scientific proof that it works. Let me know what you think of this WebMD link.