When I grow up.

This has been a very odd year for us and I'm ready to look forward. It has taken me over 30 years to decide what I want to be when I grow up. For the first time I have some direction and goals in my life. I'm not sure when or where the path will end, but I know what direction I'm headed. Life is full of unexpected twists and turns but as long as you know the direction your headed you can always get back on path. Here's to a messed up year that let me put life in perspective and understand the important things in it. The top looks pretty good from the bottom and it's time to get climbing out of this hole.

Amazed for generations

For Christmas I received a blue-ray player. I didn't receive any movies with it so went to Walmart to find an inexpensive family movie. When looking through the blue-ray movies I found "the Wizard of Oz." I remember as a child my mother was a babysitter and me and the kids she watch loved this movie. We watched it everyday for an entire summer. I wasn't sure if I would like it as much as I did or if my daughters would like it at all, but I purchased it anyway just wondering if it was still as good as I remembered. Not only did it have unbelievable picture quality it is still one of my favourite movies of all time. My daughters said they loved it and want to watch it again tomorrow. I couldn't be more excited to watch it with them again tomorrow.

Christmas future will be better than Thanksgiving

The greatest holiday is thanksgiving. I hate the crowds, expectations and pressure of Christmas. Thanksgiving has no pressure or expectations to give anything but love. I love just getting together with family laughing, eating, and enjoying each others company. I think the gifts at Christmas just set people up with financial burdens and disappointment. I think this is the last year I will purchase gifts for anybody but my children. Starting next year all of our gifts will be made from the heart not purchased off a store shelf. We will no longer give away heartless gifts made in India. Everything we give away will be made in our home and come from the heart no matter what our financial situation is.
Thank you horrible economy for making me understand my messed up vision of Christmas and making me see what is really important this time of year.

Christmas love

This was a hard year for most and remember to make Christmas about being with each other not what you get each other.
I love you all and wish you all a VERY VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

Christmas funk

It has been a very hard year and I think I forgot the "" true meaning of Christmas. Last night we got a visit from some caroling family members that helped me remember that not giving a lot of presents out this year is actually a good thing. It has made me remember that presents are not the focus of Christmas it is the people. You will never find happiness in stuff. Thanks Holdaways, you saved Christmas, by helping me out of my funk.

Defense

Lately it seems I'm always on the defense when other people are talking to me. I'm trying to learn how to listen. This is not as easy to do as it sounds. Listening is actually a very hard skill to learn. To not think of anything or start coming up with my answer before a person is finished talking is very difficult. Practice makes perfect so this is my new goal. Practice this everyday and remind myself every morning.

Nickles and dimes

I received at the beginning of the month a CDL five-year renewal. I have never received this before and wasn't sure what it was since I have had my CDL for 10years. I have found that new legislation was passed to make me go down to the DMV every 5 years and pay them money. It started recently, and guess what the government has there hand in my pocket again helping them selves or they will ruin my lively hood. It's only $15, but it's the point of it that pisses me off. It seems our government is finding new and fun ways to nickel and dime us to death for there wasteful spending.

Respect

In todays world it seems respect is not easy to get. Disrespect is an extremely toxic part if any relationship. It could be a relationship with friends, co workers, pets, spouse, children, or the biggest one yourself. I do believe to truly respect others you have to respect yourself. You have to approve of you before you try to get others to approve. If you respect yourself, people will almost automatically respect you. Be the person you want to be friends with and you will be showed with respect.
As you go through your day, remember that its not about who you please if you are not happy with yourself.

All fired up

Today I was all fired up over competition taking down a pricing sign at an account. I'm not usually an aggressive person but I don't not except disrespect or losing very well at all. I really enjoy the competitiveness of my job and today was one of those days. It's going to be an interesting week, because I will win this battle.

Time to cut the crap

Today is the first day I have stayed away from the crap of the holiday. I even managed to work in a 2 mile walk/run. I will be running 4 days a week until the week of Christmas in hope to get down to 190 ish and be ok with gaining some weight back. Yesterday I was back over the 200 mark for the first time in months and I'm not happy about it. It's hard to stay motivated but I will reward myself with a guiltless Christmas eating feast if I'm able to stay motivated for the next 3 weeks.

A quick 8

So since Wednesday when I had family come into town I have eaten an insane amount of food that is not exactly healthy. We have been eating big meals late followed by deserts. Now tonight I hoped on the scale and have gained 8 pounds since Tuesday night. Looks like I'm going to have a couple of serious healthy weeks ahead of me since I need to lose all 8 pounds + before Christmas comes and we go for round 2 of unhealthy food that makes me happy.

Deep pit party

We took the idea of digging a hole in the ground and cooking a turkey a step further and made it a night to remember. Instead of burning a bag of charcoal in a hole and expecting it to cook a turkey buried in the ground we made a night of it. We started with some basic ingredients. Research online on how to deep pit, a new turkey, lots of wood, marshmallows, chocolate bars, graham crackers, and beer. This of course turned to a nice fire pit in the backyard with family, smores, and of course the beer. This created a great hot base to deep pit the Turkey in. After about 4 hours of fire we had the hot coals to set the bird and go inside. We started Elf the movie and had a great time waiting to see if the Turkey was going to start to cook this time or just fail and become nasty like the first one. This time we had an electronic thermometer in the bird to monitor its status. After we went out to check on the temp of the bird we got nervous because the bird had heated up so rapidly in the first 3 hours. We decide to stay up because if it continued to cook that fast it would of been done in 1 to 2 hours. About 10 to 20 degrees before we would take the bird off it hit a wall and the heating of the bird slowed dramatically. At 3am we decided a quick nap was the best way to let the bird finish because obviously the saying " a watched pot never boils" was involved here. We woke up about 7am to find the bird had reached it's final temp and was ready to be dug up. The bird was amazing and now I'm sold on the deep pit. Its not just the moistest tasting meat I have ever had, the preparation to cook it is an amazing way to spend a holiday evening with family.

3 out of 4 isn't bad

We had a plan to cook 4 Turkeys for 30 people on Thanksgiving. We had an oven Turkey, weber turkey, smoked Turkey (that was mine), and deep pit turkey. All turned out great except the deep pit. We put a family member in charge of the deep pit that hadn't done it in 40 years or so and missed some steps. We have decided to do some research and do it right this time. Failing is not an option so tonight we will be putting another bird in the ground in hopes of an amazing new way to me at cooking a bird.

Your post

This post is for you. On this Thanksgiving day I'm thank for so much but most of all I'm thankful for all of you. Everybody in my life means so much to me and I just want you to all know.

Thank you for being a part of my life and enjoy everybody around you today.

Slow times round 2

I figured out tonight at 5pm that I need an oven thermometer. I thought to myself there is no way I'm facing the walmart the day before thanksgiving. I will just hit up the local supermarket and hope its not out of control. I told my brother in-law he was coming with me because so I would have a person to talk to when standing in line. Once again shocked! We got a parking spot right up front, found our thermometer, and walked towards the check out. A cashier meet me at the end of the isle and said I can check you out if you are ready. Are you kidding me...where are all of the people? The store had more employees then customers the night before thanksgiving at 6pm. I don't care what people say our economy is a disaster. Was it just me or did anybody else come across these same experiences of way slower than expected stores?

Slow times

Tonight I went to the store to grab some things. I was dreading the thought of going to a grocery store 2 days before thanksgiving but figured I like to live on the wild side. I was shocked with the fact that it was just a normal day at the supermarket. I was in and out. After thinking about this... How is it that a store is not busy at 6pm 2 days before Thanksgiving?

Life is good

Times are hard that's a fact. People are on the edge of financial ruin, family's are being torn apart, stress is at an all time high, people are still getting laid off, and I could just go on and on with the problems people are having these days. I have taken a different look at life recently and I'm learning to separate what I can control from what is out of my control. I have a beautiful wife, children, and they are healthy. I could worry about my daughters getting the H1N1 or I could just teach them to wash there hands and give them there vitamins. I'm not going to worry about them getting it before they get it. Financial stress is much hard to deal with because doing the right thing is not always possible. Still working on winning the powerball but that is not a reality YET.
I guess the point of this post is to remind people that despite all of the problems life throws at you:
- Limit unnecessary stress in your life.
- Enjoy all the great things life has to offer you.
- Be thankful to have what you need and stop caring about what you want.
- Live, Laugh, and Love like you don't have tomorrow to do it.
There no time like the presence to give more love then you get. We could all use positive words from loved ones these days.

In my fantasy, I'm a loser

I joined a fantasy football league for the first time this year. It was a season of lessons. I learned some things not to do next year and really enjoyed myself overall. I'm not sure what my ending record will be, but let's just say it will be a losing season and I'm not making the playoffs. I will be doing it again next year and I think I will do a little better.

I just Farkled

I have been avoiding the games on Facebook for some time now. I got hooked on the Bejeweled Blitz game and was finally getting boarded with it. Today I was introduced to another highly addictive game called Farkle. I have been playing it most of the night and it's not a game of skill, it a gambling game. If you hate your self enough to wast a couple hours of your life give it a try. You will really enjoy it and it's cheaper than a casino.

The legal side of uppers and downers.

The energy drink market is booming and there are new products coming out on a daily basis that clam to give you the drive and energy you need to get out of bed and get rocking every morning. The big brands that are out there right now are Monster and Red Bull. There many other brands gaining ground fast but not sure they will ever catch these brands. Just recently there has been a new kinds of drinks that are relaxing. The one that I have seen out there the most is a product called Drank. This product says it will give you extreme relaxation. I can't help but look at this as just uppers and downers. Are we really at the point were we will drink energy drinks all day and drink a relaxation drink to go to bed every night? This sounds like legal drugs use to me.

What do you think?

The lighter side of the dark side.

I'm a person that loves to people watch. I have been working in the ghetto of Phoenix for almost 10 years now. You meet some very interesting people being the Bud man. Everybody loves you and thinks of you as a having the best job in the world. (FYI- I love my job but its still a job just like any other.)
I just want to say there is nothing funny about drugs, alcoholism, or poverty.

Now that has been said these areas of town do make for some pretty crazy and entertaining people. I can't help but enjoying watching how crazy people in this world are. I keep my family in there sheltered life in the suburbs, but I have seen things that are just not right. I have seen the side of life not many get to see.

PBS rules

We have regular television, no cable, or Satellite. Just an antenna that picks up the free stuff. This leads to a limited amount of channels. I have been catching my self watching documentaries on PBS a couple times a week and enjoying them. I remember my dad watching these same shows and me thinking, how stupid is this Black and White show my dad is watching. Now I'm enjoying them.
Today I'm also saying out loud to all, "I'm old".

My laugh

I have had a very unique laugh my entire life. I love life and love to laugh. My laughter has been has heard from across a store and the person that heard it has come from isle over to see if it was me like they thought. Turned out it was me just enjoying a good laugh. Those of you that know me, know exactly what I'm talking about and can hear it in your head right now. A friend recently told me" your laugh is so contagious" and I consider that a huge compliment. The only thing better then laughing, is making somebody else laugh. HaHaHa.

Online Vs. In real life.

This story has been told before by a good friend, but it is worth repeating.

I love everybody in my life and I would love to be able to talk to them on the phone on a daily basis to keep them updated on my life. Unfortunately in reality with work, family, and life I'm unable to do this.

Chances are if you do not have an online presents and the only way we get caught up is through phone or in person, we are not as close as we would like to be. It's not hard to catch-up with me or figure out what I'm doing. I'm on Google instant messenger, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and my blog. All of these online outlets link up to each other and are updated multiple times a day. You can leave me a messages on your time and I can respond on my time.

In this world when life is so busy and it is very hard to keep in touch the Internet has given us the tools to be closer then ever. The key is getting people to use them.

Don't get me wrong I love talking to people on the phone, and going out to dinner to catch up. The reality is, the amount of people I connect with in just a few minutes a day would require months of phone conversations, meals and travel.

I have 38 twitter followers, 73 Facebook friends, 28 MySpace friends, and have 45 different visitors that came to my website 217 times in the last month. I communicate my life to all of these people on a daily basis. There is no greater invention in the world then the Internet. I just wish I could get everybody in my life to understand what they are missing.

Try to open up this world to friends and family and feel closer than ever.

Yum in Smoke

Today I put my new ($10 used) smoker to use for the the first time. I have never used a smoker before so I wanted to do a trial run before I do it for other people on Thanksgiving. I did an over night brine and was up at 6am this morning to get it started. I thought this is silly all this work for one part of a meal? I was wrong, it was worth every minute I spent working on it today. Today a man that smokes meat was born.

It's time to expose myself to the Neighborhood.

I have had the inside of my house decorated for Christmas for weeks now and it is time put the lights up outside. I have kept my holiday decorations from my neighbors long enough. Today I will start the process of off my lawn blow-ups and some lights in the yard then next weekend I will tackle the roof lights. I will post pics of my final product next weekend.

I have a wiz kid!!!

Today I was able to get off of work early to make my daughters principles list luncheon. She got straight A's in the first semester of 1st grade and we are extremely excited about this. She is on the younger side of her class so I have always been concerned that she would fall behind because of her age. She but away a lot of that doubt today with her grand achievement. It is very important to me to make sure she makes school an important part of the next 20 years of her life.

Keep up the great work Jenna, I'm very proud and happy to be your father.

Company Growth

Today my company has launched a new business. They are getting into the wine business. They have started a new company with new employees and a new image. I think it is great and they have a great business plan to rapidly grow into being very successful in AZ. I just couldn't help but think where does this leave me the rough and tough beer salesman? It looks I will be on the outside looking into the wine part of the business. Which is probably a good thing since wine drinkers can not be approached like beer drinkers can. Maybe the 2 buck chuck guy can be but that is not what our new company is looking for. The first 50 plus wines will be from Europe and will be imported by my company to the state of Arizona for the first time. 80% of our wines will be great wines for under $20. Have not been able to taste any yet but that is coming soon. I guess I should start to learn more about wines if I want to move up in the company one day.

Veterans Day

Freedom is not free and many people give there time and lives to keeping our country free. The world is getting crazier and angrier it seem like everyday. I go to sleep every night knowing that Americas bravest are ready to protect me from the evil that is out there. Thank you to all that are and have ever served in the armed forces. You give so much, so I can have so much. GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!

The speed of time.

It always seem there is never enough time in this life to accomplish everything you want. There are always those thing you wish you had done and said that never get accomplished. Today I talk to an Uncle of mine that I want to say I haven't talked to in years but I think it has been like 10 years now. I don't know were the time has gone and I don't think he has ever met my wife. I'm looking to right some wrongs in my life because life is getting faster and faster everyday. Make time for priorities that are being put off for things that can wait. Life will continue to get fast until it is over. Then it is too late!

Children melt away the day

My 2 little girls are amazing and always make bad days better and good days great. Today after a bad day I walked in the door to a girl with her arms hugging each leg screaming daddy. I made it home just in time to put them to bed. 5 minutes after I walked in the door, my day was a thing of the past and everything was great. I'm scared of them growing up and losing the innocents of there word that makes me king.

It was a tough citrus sugar scrub

Tonight after spending the day in the sun working in the yard I came in to take a shower and my skin felt so dry it actually hurt. It had been flaky for days and was in desperate need of moisture. I asked the wife if she had a good lotion I could put on after my shower to help with my dry skin. She suggested I use her sugar scrub in the shower. "It well get rid of you dead skin and hydrate the rest with oil" she said. So I figured I would give it a shot. Not sure how it is good to rub what felt like wet gravel all over your body to make your skin soft but I still did it. After scrubbing my body with sugar I got out of the shower and my skin felt like a baby's butt. It left me smelling like an orange but my skin is happy again. Not sure how I feel about the experience yet but I'm not sure that I would do it again.

Life is how you see it

"Life sucks, life is hard, life handed me a bad deal, I'm this because of that." These are excuses not answers. Life is not easy and you will always be faced with major problems. How you choose to deal with every situation does affect how you view life. When you get in a car accident you can be mad about your damaged car and the idiot that hit you or be happy and thankful to be alive. If a loved one dies you can be upset about the dead or be happy for all of the good times and be thankful for the living. When you get passed up for a promotion, you can get pissed or work harder to make sure you get the next one. Life is amazing, great, and wonderful. Life only sucks when you look at it that way. STAY POSITIVE!!!

I already miss it

Tonight we lost the first round of the playoffs. The season has ended and hours later I'm already miss it. I'm sad that I will not get to watch the kids grow and be there outlet from the bad things they could be doing. You don't know what it is like to watch a kid become a better person because of you until you have done it. I love being apart of the program and I want to thank everyone that aloud me to be involved. I can't wait until spring when we start training.

Dedication, who is that? said the teen

It been another challenging year of football. Started the season with 22 guys and this Friday we will head in to our first game of the playoffs with at the most 11 guys for 8 man ball. I hate to generalize but according to my last 2 years off coaching football 1/2 of high school students are quitters. This is probably very inaccurate data I have put together, but when I end the year with less then 1/2 of the guys I started with 2 years in a row its what I'm going on. I have 11 loyal dedicated guys and 2 guys that just got hurt that I'm proud to call the future of America. The rest have quit and I'm scared to call them the future. I'm not sure what to do or how to change this. I'm trying to do my part but I can only do so much as a coach. If you don't come to practice you will not win or play in the game. When these guy show up to their first business meeting unprepared I hope they understand how important practice is. In life you are always preparing for the big game. When you win or lose that game, you get up, learn what you did wrong or right, and then get ready for the next game.
Please take interest in a young adult and try to make them understand the importants of hard work, integrity and dedication. Improving our country is going to require that we invest in the future today. Our children are the future.

From being a coach to being a player? (need your input)

I have been helping to coach the a high school football team again this year. The head coach of the team this year is going to join an adult football league in January. He is trying to talk me into it and I'm not sure. I would love to do it but, I think that I might get hurt and the fact that its not cheap. Playing the game would make me a better coach next year. I love the game and I know that putting the pads on again after 12 years sounds awesome. I'm just not sure how my body would feel about it after 12 years. What do you think? Is 30 to old to be slamming your body into others?

Life is halarious!!!

I'm definitely a glass 1/2 full type of person. I usually find the silver lining in everything and look for comedy at every turn. Its always right around the corner and I always know were to find it when I need it. Watching people can always be extremely entertaining. Fact: people are crazy and do crazy things. Find the funny place in your head and go there as often as possible. Life is always better after a laugh.

Swine Flu Shot in the Schools

I have been hearing about the local schools giving the H1N1 shot to children. I understand that they will be able to get the shot to children that might not get it from the doctor. I would just caution all schools to make sure they are communicating with parents, because if that shot ends up in my daughters arm without my permission somebody will have a serious problem on there hands. I have my view of the shot. I refuse to allow my daughter to be a guinea pig. I have never given my daughters the normal flu shot either. I have personally only had the Flu shot once. 1 month later I got the (a different strain then I was vaccinated for) Flu. Since then I have not gotten the shot or the flu again. The flu and the H1N1 will make many people sick this year and some that don't get treated for it will die. I feel that being healthy, taking your vitamins, and using common sense hygiene will keep my family healthy. Good luck this winter it will be quiet the adventure for all.

Party overload

This was a wild weekend for us. We attended 3 party's and had some people over for football and food today. Looking forward to a hopefully quiet weekend next weekend before we get into the full swing of the holidays. Thanks to all that had us over this weekend it was busy but very fun at the same time.
I'm going to attempt to give you 30 days of Mitchells brain this month. Every night before bed I will give my blog its much needed attention. Stay tuned!!!

Phones vs. Computers

Everyday the computers get smaller and the phones get smarter. Will phones one day replace the need for computers? I understand that people that work on the computer will still need them. I'm talking about the average person. I hardly use my computer now that I have a BB. If I had an I-phone I could do anything my computer could do and fit in my pocket. (One day apple will change service carriers and you will also get to use the phone feature.) I still feel the need for a laptop with the wifes home business. Today I twittered, Facebooked, looked at my fantasy football team, asked google a question, and did this post from my phone.

Open book life, with a side of good example

I live an open book life. I'm on Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, and I have my own website. Its hard for me to imagine my life not being open to all. The only problem with that is that sometimes I do not live a life that is setting the right example for all. I was trying to decide if I should not live the open book life I do, or just live a life that sets a good example. With my little cousins following me on FB and my daughters getting older everyday. I have chosen to live a life of example instead of a life that is do as I say and not as I do. This will require me to think before I say or do things. This is something I have never been good at but I'm going to start to work towards it. I'm not a role model, but I want to a person of positive influence to the people that look up to me.

Relaxation

I have been enjoying a much needed relaxing vacation. Home vacations are some of the best vacations. I love to just casually go through my day with little planned and just getting things done when I feel like it. That being said heading into Thursday I'm going to have to start getting things done. The second half of the week will be very busy but I'm really enjoying the week home. I'm going to get myself a drink a watch a movie with the wife tonight. Staying up late and sleeping in, has been a nice change in my life.

Honey-do Vacation

This week I'm on vacation and we have to decided to just be home this time. It has been really nice getting stuff done around the house and not running hear and going there. I'm staying busy that's for sure but it's a busy by choice not because I have to be. That's the busy I like to be.

Christmas cheer in October.

Last year after Christmas, the wife and I hit the 75% off sales and we scored big. We have a beautiful new tree with really awesome new lights and lots of new decorations all still in the box. This week I'm on Vacation and I think we are going to set up our tree and decorate the inside of the house. We want it all up for Thanksgiving and I don't think we have an open weekend until then. It might be crazy but it's time to start spreading Christmas cheer in the Mitchell home.

I think we will turn down the A/C, have hot chocolate, warm apple cider, and some pastries. I feel all warm and happy just thinking about it.

The wettest, dry county.

I spent the last 3 days on business in Bentonville, Arkansas. I left still confused on there version of a dry county. In this dry county I went to 3 different bars and drank beer. There was a catch I had to join a club for 3 dollars at each bar, that gave me 3 dollars off of my 1st drink. I discovered this is the loop hole. Private clubs can have liquor licenses. Then I found another rule they have to get around is no liquor distributor can cross the county line. So the bars go and pick up all of their own beer and liquor from a different county. I'm still not sure how I got drunk at 3 bars in a dry county but I did. I would call it the wettest dry county ever.

BB Post

I'm head on a business trip tomorrow without my computer and wanted to test my ability to post from my phone. I have 2 full days of travel in the next 3 days and want to be a able to put together some posts to update you all.

Football Family

I'm helping to coach High School Football again this year and Friday night we won our first game. It has been a rough season but I have seen my players go from being individuals to a team. For the first time our team bonded together through the good and bad like a family. The result of that was our first win. I love to win just like everybody else but it's sweeter when you watch young adults grow to be a better people because of it. I'm not just teaching football I'm teacher life lesson.

Represent

This coming Monday - Wednesday I get to represent my company at a Supplier Summit in Bentonville, Arkansas. I have never gone on a business trip before so I'm very excited. After all of my hard work all of these years and I feel I'm getting some long needed recognition.

I see jumping on the hotel bed in my future. Stay tuned to twitter or FB to follow me on this adventure to Banjo country.

Violent point

At what point does your anger turn violent? What is your trigger? Is it frustration, disrespect, ignorance or is it something else that triggers our violent point. I know that my hot button is disrespect and threats against my family. People can threaten me all day but you threaten my wife or kids I hope you brought your gloves.

I watched a seen unfold in front of me today that had me wondering about this. I seen a dad and son fighting in the park at around 1pm. The dad was around 45 years old and the boy looked 17, both were bigger than me, and I was in the ghetto. I of course did the white boy in the ghetto thing, and called the cops to tell them about it. It left me thing what lead to the point of a father and son getting out of the car and starting to go at it in the park. Did dad have to leave work and come pick up his son from school for drugs, fighting, or something. I guess with the way some young adults are today I could see you losing it.

I have not been on many physical fights but they all started with disrespect.

What is your "Violent Point"? What would trigger you to lose control, and turn anger into a physical fight?

Footbal season, and my fantasy league.

I have my line up set and it going to be an exciting week 1 . I know a lot about the Cardinals and a good amount about the Eagles but don't know much more about any other teams. This is one of the points in this fantasy league for me. I want to learn more about other teams players. This fantasy league will do that for sure.

My fantasy Line up for Week 1 of the NFL football season.

QB - Matt Schaub

QB - Matt Hasselbeck

WR - Larry Fitzgerald

WR - Braylon Edwards

RB - Knowshon Moreno

RB - Steve Slaton

TE - Jason Witten

W/R/T - Eddie Royal

K - Adam Vinatieri

DEF - Chicago

I hope it is a good week, but I won't know the final until Monday night.

7 Years

Today my amazing wife and I have been married for 7 years. Each day my love for her grows deeper and stronger. We have been through a lot together, and I know I couldn't of done it without her. I'm not sure what the next step in our life is, but I know that together we can make through anything. I'm a very lucky man!!!

Love you babe!!!!

Hard work does pay off!!!

I have seen it in many situations lately that hard work is paying off in the work place. Many company's are getting ride of, or demoting there dead weight and keeping the people that are worth keeping. The people that work hard are getting the opportunities they deserve.

This has not always been the case in the work place but it seem to be the new norm.

Fantasy football help

Looking for some help on my Fantasy football draft on Friday night. I love the game and watch it every week but don't know much about the players. Any suggestions would be great. Just give me your top players for each position and what team they are on. I only lose $5 if I don't win and only gain like $40 or $50 if I win. Next year I would like to up the $ but I just want to get a feel for it all.

News???

I can't stand to watch the news these days. I have next to no tolerance for idiots that don't deserve 30 minutes of my day to give me 2 minutes of valuable information. The Internet is where I get my news. I get better, and more information, in less time then I ever would watching the idiots on my local news stations. I think that one day the 5, 6 and 10 o'clock news will be as popular as the news paper is today. Some people will still watch it. Most will not be retired, and enjoy getting better news, faster.

Then why bother.

I have a very hard time understanding people that don't have passion or drive to be the best. In every job, I have ever had, I have always tried to do my best and be an outstanding employee. That's just how I operate. I have always taken ownership of what I do, and want to be the best at whatever I do. If I didn't try my best, I don't know why I would bother. A half ass job is not an option in my world.

Almost everyday I see a person working hard at hardly working. If they used the effort they put into not working, to work, they would be really good employees. Instead they are that guy. You know the guy that some how always gets out of things. You know every excuse he has is BS and he is just working the system.

I'm not saying I work with people like this, I'm just saying I see it almost every day.

I wish I could pause my life.

There is never enough time in the day. In my new job I have traded exhaustion for more sleep, but it has taken time out of my day. I get to sleep in now but I work much later. I get home, blink, and my day is over. I have cut back on things like my time on the computer to make sure I spend the same amount of time with my family. This has led to the blog suffering and not having a lot of posts. Sorry for the lack of updates but I have to priorities. I'm going to make it a ritual to blog at least 2 times a week. It might be on Saturday and Sunday but I figure that's better then I have been doing.

The Abs Diet update

The diet has been going great. It's not too hard and I have been doing pretty good at it so far. The one major thing about the diet is the results I have gotten after 2 weeks. After 2 weeks I'm down to 207 pounds from 213 and a BF% of 31.8%. That is down from 37.5% and so that is very good. The diet is not about working out really hard or anything like that. It is just about know what is in, what goes into your mouth. Staying away from the crap the body shouldn't have in it. I feel better and look better then I have in a very long time. I'm starting to learn the difference between being skinny and being health. If you are skinny it doesn't mean you are health.

I have also learned that everybody not just the fast food industry is trying to kill us from the inside. Get educated and start to read labels. It will scare the crap out of you.

Quick week

I'm coming to the conclusion that when you work longer hours, your week goes by very quickly. The new job is taking some adjusting and learning. Hoping not to work 12 and 15 hour days next week. It has not only taken a toll on me but the family is not a fan either.

The BB curve

My fat fingers have been trying to use my new Blackberry Curve. I have always updated my twitter by text with my enV with a very large keyboard. The new curve has much smaller buttons and I have been sending out some posts that have been a little confusing. I'm sure I will get used to it but please bear with me and my learning curve.

The Abs Diet

The wife was reading a book on our vacation called the Abs Diet. It is more of a meal plan then a diet. You have to plan ahead everyday and eat good food the right way. We will be starting the diet today and I will notify you of my weekly progress over the next week.

My weight is 213 and my BF% is 37.5%. This is all bad

My goal weight is 190 and to have a BF% around 25% so I have some work to do.

My mental muscles

Tomorrow I will be starting a new position that will involve me learning how to work more with my brain then my back. The new position will involve little physical effort, but lots of mental work. I'm not sure how I will adjust but I will keep you updated. I have learned in the past that physical work, is much easier then mental work. I will be flexing my mental muscles, and I think they might be pretty weak.

New position come Monday

I have been promoted to the sales department at my work. I will be running sales routes of salesman that are on vacation. The new job has some perks like a blackberry and a company vehicle that I get to take home. I didn't technically receive a pay raise, but $4o less a week in gas will be nice. Not to mention oil changes and wear and tear on my Jeep. I will be giving updates over the next couple of weeks on how it is going.

PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO READ AND VOTE!!!

Please take one minute of your time to vote for this dog. http://www.brickfish.com/Pages/PhotosAlbums/PhotoView.aspx?qsi=16078937

If they win the contest that will pay for the dogs food for the remainder of it's life.

The dog goes with people to court (mostly young kids) when they have to testify. The court has another dog named sam. They have so many requests they needed another.

A story about an 8 year old girl that had to testify against her rapist and long story short she wasn't handling it very well until she met sam (the dog) who got to go with her. She went from clinging to every fixed object in the court house begging not to go in the room to pointing at the guy saying he did it! It has made a big impact.

All of the dogs are rescued from a shelter as well.

Netflix

This weekend we finally decided to sign up for netflix's and it is awesome. We spent the weekend watching movies on our laptop. We watch 3 movies and my daughters watch 4 shows. Netflix's is totally worth the money and I can't believe it took me so long to decide to sign up. Many people have tried to get me to sign up and I was always resistant for some reason. Just wanted to let you all know that if you don't have it you are missing out.

Another Social Website

So I have joined a new social website and I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. It was cool tonight linking myself to my friends and family, but will it last? I only have a Myspace account to spy on my little sister and cousin. I don't see them very often but I like to make sure they are not getting into to trouble. My guess is that the fun of Facebook will just go away like Myspace did. I have the blog and Twitter to inform people about me.

So what do you like best to communicate with friends and family?

Myspace?

Facebook?

Twitter?

Blogger?

Instant Messenger?

Email?

Telephone?

US Postal Service?

I use all of them.

My girl

I have the most amazing wife!!! She is also the glue that keeps me, our family, and our house together. I never thought I would ever be able to find such an amazing women to spend my life with. She hard working, strong, loyal, loving, understanding, and extremely sexy. I could never be the man I' am today without her. The amazingly deep feelings I feel for my wife could never be put into words.

Kristina I love you. I hope that all the grief my offspring and I cause you, you understand how much we love you. Have a safe trip home and I can't wait to see you tomorrow.

Queit home

I came home on Sunday night and left my family back in California until Thursday. The quiet, lonely night makes it actually hard to sleep. I thought it would be great, going to bed early and getting some good rest. Every night, I'm really tired but just can't fall asleep. I miss my girls and can't wait to have the noise back on Thursday night so I can get a good nights sleep.

Back to reality

Reality set back in yesterday when I arrived back into Phoenix from being in California for 10 days. I love the beach, the fresh air, and visiting great people. My allergies have been a mess since I stepped out of the car and the heat punched me in the face. I want to breath the fresh ocean air again, not the dust ball I'm back in. Life goes on and my dream is still at the beach.

Vacation!!!

I will be on vacation next week and I think I'm going to take a break from blogging. I have tons of stuff to say but can't say any of it out loud right now. Life is traveling at lightning speed, and I think I need to slow it down and enjoy it. You can still follow me on Twitter all week. I'm going to be consuming instead of producing.

The shake down.

I love the beach and California but I always feel that they are due for a big earthquake. I'm really not scared of an earthquake, I just don't like the idea of mother earth trying to shake me off. I'm also concerned about not being with my girls if one happens. I would freak out if I know they were in one and I was across town or something. I hope mother nature is ok with me being in Cali next week and doesn't try to shake me off.

I of course read some news that started this blog today about the San Adreas fault. http://twitter.com/BreakingNews/status/2554256206

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-tremors10-2009jul10,0,6189113.story

Fabulous fourth in the mountains.

I spent my Fourth of July weekend in the Heber, Arizona. I have been going to this celebration of the Fourth in Heber for about 15 years now. I love it, and it is one the greatest firework displays I have ever seen. They start the day off with a parade then move to an all day carnival / Craft fair. There something nice to be said about enjoying the Fireworks in a light weight jacket because it is in the high 60's for a temperature.

How did you spend you fourth?

A/C melt down.

I have been a walk heat wave. Mother nature really turned up the heat towards the end of last week in Phoenix. Then starting Sunday the humidity started to rolling in and made a miserable situation, that put our A/C units on overload. Sunday night our A/C went out in the house that lead us to staying at my mother-in-laws house. Monday morning I got into my work to find out the A/C was out in it. Then I decided I would stop at a Jack in the Box to cool off when I was on my route. When I walked in it was very hot in the restaurant and the employee said sorry about the heat but our A/C is out. I felt like I should apologized to her for being the A/C killer.

The 4 dollar date.

This Sunday the wife and I went out for dinner and a movie. We have been accumulating gift cards from as long as 1 and 1/2 years ago. We don't have a lot time to go out and enjoy things like this. We went to Cheesecake factory and to see the proposal. The date night only cost 4 dollars after we used our gift cards.

Extremely busy time.

The past couple of weeks have been extremely busy for me and I'm glad to be back to blogging. I have applied and interviewed for 3 new positions at my work and ended up getting 1 of them. I will not be starting it until August 1st but that will give me time to train the new guy coming into my position. I'm very excited that I will no longer be getting up at 2am. The new position will require me to get up around 5am or so which is still early but not 2am. I turned 30 on the 24Th and now I'm officially old. I'm preparing for the July 4Th holiday, my vacation which is coming very soon, and making sure all things are in order for the new guy to take over my route. So I guess I also have busy times ahead. That's my update for know, hope you all enjoy me talking about me, and keep visiting.

Wow, I'm 30.

I have passed another milestone in my life and it is better then I ever could of imagined. When my parents turned 30 and I remembered thinking, what will my life be like when I'm 30. Will I have a house, a cool truck, will I be rich? These are the things that I thought would be important to have when I was 30.

It turns out I'm much luckier then the kid in me, wanted me to be. I have an amazing wife that is absolutely gorgeous, 2 beautiful little girls that are funnier then an comedian, and my health. What more could a 30 year old man ask for. I have some nice stuff, and a good job but that doesn't matter because with out my job and stuff I'm still the luckiest man I know. When I'm forty All I really want is my wife, my children, and my health. This is what a grown-up realizes is important.

Together forever.

Today I once again, was amazed by Google. Today I ran into a problem with removing the rear drum to change the brakes on my 2002 Toyota Sienna. Normally they just come off when you loosen the brakes and remove the tire. I then started beating it with a hammer thinking this would break it loose. This also failed. I was thinking maybe this vehicle is different and I need to loosen a bolt or something. I washed the hands and headed to my computer to ask Google. As always she delivered the answer to my question. She sent me to a site that solved a problem I was working on for about an hour. 30 seconds after I read the solution I had the drums off. There so many search engines out there today, but me and Google are staying together forever.

Starting the Wii Fit

I officially love my Wii more every day. Me and the wife received a Wii fit as a combo gift from my parents for our B-Day's this month. I have done 2 workouts on it and I love it. It is fun exercise. I was getting very bored of the treadmill at the gym and have been looking for something new. I think I have found it in the Wii fit. I'm sure it will get old one day and I will be looking for my next challenge. That is when a new game for the Wii balance board comes in. If I'm Lucky I will get the new punch out with the boxing gloves, and the Wii fit Balance board is also compatible. I bet that is a crazy good work out.

The waiting game.

I have always been a very impatient person. I want results and I want them now. I think that is why I love the Internet so much. It tells me what I want to know, when I ask it. This is also a reason I love being a salary employee and not hourly. I work hard and fast then go home, no clock watching. But when it takes time to get results I can't control. I hate it. 

I interviewed for a new position in my company on Tuesday. They said they will let us know by Friday. The waiting is killing me. I will be ok if I don't get it I just want to know either way.

This is 401 and counting

I have completed 400 posts on this website. I hope you have enjoyed the thoughts and rants going on in my brain. I enjoy telling and I hope you enjoy reading.

What is too expensive?

Why is it I will gladly spend $50 dollars on a nice dinner for the wife and I, but wonder if it is worth the extra $4 for the nicer insoles?  The food will be waste hours later but the insoles will be 6 months of happy feet. 

I'm sure many others do the same types thing. 

Like sleep on a bad mattress, but go on a cruise ever year. Would it make sense to skip the cruise this year and have a nice place to spend 1/3 of your day everyday for the next 8 to 10 years?

Why do we consider things for ourselves too expensive or not important?

Are you gellin?

This last weekend I purchased a new pair of shoes for work and I purchased  insoles to go in them. I was trying to decided between the generic $8 insoles or the $12 insoles. I decided to splurge and spend the $12 and get the really nice ones. I purchased the Dr. Scholl's massaging gel insoles. I'm very happy with the purchase. I figure since I will be wearing my shoes 60 or so hours a week for at least 6 months, it was worth the $4 extra dollars. I would recommend giving your feet the treat of gel.

Don't Bullshit me!!!

I have worked in sales for a good part of my career. So I can usually spot a person that is feeding me crap. Why is business so full of crap? I have always been honest with my customers and I expect the same in return. I know it is hard to believe, an honest salesman. Why is it that so many people lie to the customer to get them to buy a product? The customer will only change there mind about your product and never recommend it to anybody. Making your product a short term product. Why has greed made us question our values? Don't people understand that quality products have more value then lies and crap?

Loving the Wii

I know you can make all the jokes you want but I truly love my Wii. TI has all of the games I once loved and all the new things you could ask for. They just came out with Punch-Out with Everlast boxing gloves. One of the original Nintendo's greatest games. Little Mac is at it again fighting, Glass Joe and King Hippo along with all of the others from the original game. The great part of this game today is the Everlast boxing gloves and the fact that you are actually boxing instead of pushing buttons. The Wii rules because it gets you off of your fat ass and makes you sweat. I don't have this game but if you are look for something to get me for my B-Day on June 24Th this would be a good one. (hint hint)

Party's are different now

Last night we had some friends over for taco salad. It was a great time playing in the blow-up pool out back, and the sprinkler I had put in the trampoline. Then once it got dark we came inside and the men played a bowling tournament on the Wii. (I just wanted to point out that Jenna beat all of the guys in the last game, including Rob.) At the end of all the fun I was exhausted and ready for bed. I laid in bed and started to think about the party's before children and how different they were. My friends aren't getting trashed and getting naked for no reason any more. The only nudity last night was under the age of 4 from a diaper malfunction in the trampoline. It's not a bad thing just different.

Not worth the Suck.

I'm sure I have done this rant before but hear it comes again. A day off doesn't mean less work, it actually means more work in less days for me. Working in the beer industry for almost 10 years now I have grown to hate holidays. I get 1 day off, for 2 -3 weeks of hell. How does this add up? I would much rather work the holiday and just get payed then have 2-3 weeks of hell for a day off.

I have work a lot more then an extra 8 hours in the past 2 weeks. 

Looking for some feedback.

What do you think of these products? I know that some of them you have never heard of because they are new. Just give me your opinion and I will explain my reasons later.

• Arizona Iced tea 20oz plastic bottle (all flavors)
  
• Arizona Vapor water
• Vidration
• Xenergy (energy drink)
  
• Oh Yeah! (protein shake)
• Go Girl (energy drink)
• killer buzz (energy drink)
• Revolution Tea 
• Borba Skin Balance Water

I know you are asking yourself why I want to know your opinion on these products. Your just going to have to wait on that question, until a later date. 

Thank you.

Building the perfect womon

The other morning my daughter Jenna turned on the TV and saw football on it. She comes running into my room and wakes me up saying "dad quick wake up football is on". It turned out to be some highlights they were showing on the news from last season because they were talking about the NFL draft that had happened a couple weeks ago. She was very disappointed that football was not on. She said to me "dad when is football going to start. I really need some football". Did I mention she is only 5 and already a huge football fan. 

I never had a son to pass things onto, but I think I might be build the perfect womon. I figure if I have instilled football at age 5 how much progress can I make by 10 or 15.

Spining

This Saturday morning me and the wife went to a spin class at our gym. I have always thought the class was dumb, but figured I would give it a try. I was surprised that I lasted the entire hour. The work out was pretty intense and once I got past the 35 minute mark it was much easier. If you have ever done this class you already know that my butt is in pain. I would recommend the class and will do it again when the soreness goes away.

Crazy or Happy?

I'm sure every city, and possible every area of town has the crazy person dancing and singing at the bus stop. I see this lady every week dancing up a storm, and singing at the top of her lungs at the bus stop at 7am. I have always thought that lady is super crazy. Today looking at her smiling, dancing, and singing I thought the same thing "That lady is so nuts". Being in a truck all by yourself will lead to thinking and that's just what I did. I wondered, Where is she taking the bus to? Where does she live? Does she love or hate her job? Does she even have a job? What is she so damn happy about? 

I have been called crazy when I'm having fun and just enjoying life. I have also been called crazy for wanting to be spontaneous. So is crazy just being yourself and enjoying life, or is it a serious mental thing. I think it's fun to be crazy sometimes.

So, is she crazy or just happy?

Mothersday cooking adventure.

Me and the wife went on an cooking adventure on Sunday and used our family as guinea pigs. I have never had Cornish game hens before and have definitely never cooked them before. This Sunday I cooked 10 Cornish game hens, that turned out really well. Not to bad for a first timer. 

We marinated them in a homemade sauce for about 4 hours then cooked them on cedar planks out on the grill for about an hour on low heat. Me and the wife make a great team.

Some pictures of the mothers day dinner below.

http://twitpic.com/4xoh1

http://twitpic.com/4xwms

http://twitpic.com/4xoh1

http://twitpic.com/4y4z5

Information overload.

I have been on the computer a lot lately with no time to blog. I have been working very hard to learn as much as possible as quickly as possible. I am really enjoying learning HTML and can't wait to build my first web site. I still have a lot to learn but it is coming along really well. I have actually started to dream about code in my sleep. This has lead me to believe I have information overload and need a little time off to absorb what I have learned. I will be back to the learning in a few days and hope to finish my HTML cheat sheet that I'm putting together. I will post it when it is complete.

A very productive weekend.

This weekend was very busy. I built a wall in the back yard, mowed, pulled weeds, built some simple web pages for all my domains, helped my grandparents purchase satellite radio and installed it, then went to dinner with the wife and some friends at Vogue Bistro. I did all of that on Saturday. I was happy with what I did on Saturday, so I was lazy on Sunday. But I did more on Saturday then I have done in a month.

5 weeks now

I have officially gone to church for 5 weeks straight now. I have tried 3 different churches in this time and ended up enjoying Radiant Church the best. 

I'm not sure on where I stand on the whole God and Jesus thing but I'm looking into it. I have never been a church goer.  I have been talked into going, now and again. I have never looked into it on my own terms until now.

The shocking thing I have come across, is that every church is different. No matter what they believe. I went to 3 different church's and they all had a different feel. They all talked about the same thing, but all have a completely different way of telling it.

Radiant Church is my favorite. I really enjoy the life lesson every week. It's a great modern day lesson I understand, without being a practicing Christian. That alone makes me more interested in the church, and the whole thing that it is built on. I'm not sure if this will stick or if I will just drift out of it again. All I know is that right now, it is pretty cool. 

HTML RULES!!!!

I have become very obsessed with writing website code. I love it! I'm not sure what it is about. It really makes me excited when I write out a bunch of code and create something amazing. It is truly like learning a new language. With the encouragement of my cousin (Merc) and HTML dog. I'm on my way to this new exciting adventure. I'm still doing the beginner tutorials but I have also purchased 3 books. That's how serious I am, I'm reading books.

Eulogy - Me, Dead, Tomorrow.

I changed my mind and only did 2 of the 4 groups of people. I noticed things got very repetitive in the 3 and 4Th group. This one is going to be the weirdest, since I will be speaking at my funeral.

Wow!!! this sucks, I'm dead. 

So many things I hope I did. You don't ever expect to die, and you always think you will have time to do it tomorrow. I hope my family, knows how much I love them. I hope that everybody knows how much I care about them. I hope that people are inspired by me to be great. I hope my children know how much I loved them and never forget me. 

(In a panicky voice)

Did I let my wife know how much I loved her?

Do my parents know how much I appreciated them?

Does my sister know that my criticism was out of love?

Did I let the people that inspired me know how they changed my life?

I know that sometimes I got wrapped up in the thick of thin things. I wish I would of spent more quality time with my family, and less time doing things that are not urgent or important. Sometimes things like a TV show became more important and it wasn't. I didn't work too much but I was always very busy, too busy to be everything I wanted to be. I wish I would of been a better father, husband, friend, family member. 

Life is too short to be wishing, so I'm going to start doing. 

Eulogy - Family

Stephen was a family man. He loved unconditionally and always did his best to help his family. He was always honest. We all learned if we didn't want to hear the truthful reality of  something, we didn't ask him. His girls Kristina, Jenna and Mikayla were the light of his life. Every choice he made, he made it with them in mind. Stephen always did things whole heartily, and always had the best of intentions. Stephen's smile and laughter always brought great joy to all family gatherings. He always worked hard, played hard, and did his best to live life to the fullest. 

Yes, love is a verb .

Taking a break from talking about my death, I figured I would change the subject today to love. 

Love is not something you say it is something you do or show. This means you can not tell somebody you love them and expect it to stick without showing them. You must show your love to a person for them to know. Again reading the book Seven Habits is teaching me so many things about relationships with people. I'm not just talking about my wife, I'm also talking about friends, family and children.

One small thing I started doing to show my daughter Jenna I love her. Instead of driving up to her school and having her jump in the car. I now park, get out, and meet her in the school yard with a hug. One day she introduced me to some of her friends and said she loved me coming and getting her. This was something small but a great example of what I mean. It's the little things they remember most.

Eulogy - Friends

Stephen was an amazing person that always brought a smile to peoples faces. His cheerful attitude and ability to always find the comedy in life is what made him such a joy to be around. He always did his best to be the friend that he wanted to have. Honest (sometimes too honest), true, and always there when you needed him. If you had a bad day you could call him and end the call with smile. He had the ability to find the good side of all situations. His very presence made you fell better about yourself. He always tried to see the best in people but would tell you what he thought if he felt you were out of line. He was never afraid to humiliate himself for a laugh or a smile. Steve was completely nuts, and brought sanity to so many. My life was better then it could of been, just by being his friend. 

P.S.

Friends if this is not the person I' am today, it is the friend I want to be, and will strive to be.

Beginning with the end in mind.

I have been reading the book "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" for the second time. I have deiced to read 1 habit every week and do all of the exercises he talks about. The first exercise I will be doing is called "beginning with the end in mind."

The author Stephen Covey wants you to picture your funeral 3 years from today and what your family, friends, work associates, and community group or church would say about you at your funeral. This will help you to touch your deep values and assist you in writing your mission statement or personal constitution.

Over the next week or so I will be posting 5 eulogy's for me. One for each of the 4 groups that the book talks about. The 5Th will be my eulogy, told by me, if I died today. I think this will help know my definition of success, and what I need to change to become the person I want to be.

I know this sounds a little warped and disturbing, but I think the end result will be amazing.

Internet Security

Internet security is like an oxymoron in my opinion. You are protected but never secure. Somebody asked me the other day if my IM service was secure. I responded sure, not really thinking about it. Nothing done on the Internet or a computer for that matter is secure. Definitely not an IM service that goes through a 3rd party. Every stroke of a key on your computer is recorded and held in your computer. If your doing something you don't want to be found out, I would not encrypt it on your computer. I would also not send thing through a 3rd party like email, IM, or something like myspace. They also record everything you do through their site.

Is the bunny thing dead yet?

I love getting together with family and having a big meal, but do people still hide eggs claiming that a bunny did it. I know it's fun and exciting but I can't help but think lying to my children after telling them to always tell the truth is wrong. I think I can justify the Santa thing, but the Easter bunny, and tooth fairy are going to far in my opinion. Honesty is hard to teach if you don't tell the truth. Do as I say and not as I do, is not an effective parenting method. 

What are your thoughts on the lies we tell our children out of tradition?

Peaceful day

Today was a very nice day. It was cool and rainy outside so we opened up the house to let the cool breeze in. It was so nice I fell asleep for a couple hours. Then me and the family headed to the movie theater to see Monsters vs. Aliens. It was a good movie and then we went out to dinner. It was a very nice day with no pressure. Back to reality tomorrow. Not that I don't love being with family, but it's a very busy day running from house to house.

My domain.

So I have officially become infected with domain name ownership. I didn't realize how addicting domain names are. I want around 30, but only own 6 right now. I currently only have 1 website, and only have the need for 2 or 3 domains. But my wants are much higher.

A week without talk radio.

I have been sucked into the information worm hole that is talk radio. I love to be informed about what is going on locally and nationally. But these days with all of the bad news being reported it can really bring you down. For 1 week I will be taking a talk radio vacation. I will not be without news just in small doses, not all day information as I drive around all day.

My paradigm shift, again.

"The Seven Habits Highly Effective People" is an amazing book that you can't just read once. It is packed full of so much information that will change your life and how you look at it. There is no way you could successfully put all of the habits in motion at once without going back to your old habits. I read this book about a year ago and it changed my life. But I slowly started to shift back to some of my old habits. These are hard times for all and if you have read the book I would suggest reading it again to make sure you are on track. If you have never read this book go and get it now and read it. You can also find the audio book on I-tunes for all of you on the go people.

Surrounded by Idiots.

To quote my grandmother "Stephen how is it that we continue to live in this world full of idiots." 

Spend, spend, spend is the answer to get out of debt?

To quote Ron Burgundy " That doesn't make any sense."

I don't pretend to have superior knowledge or anything but I do have common sense, and nothing makes sense these days. Everyday I feel like I'm surrounded by idiots and they seem to be multiplying by the day. Grandma and I can't be the only people that feel this way, right?

The longest Sunday

If you have been reading the blog you know that I decided to go old school this Sunday.  No TV, computer, or cell phone for the entire day. This was one of the best ideas I have ever had. I will be repeating this for as long as I can. With no time wasting things going on, I not only got a lot of stuff done I also had a lot of quality time with my family. Technology is nice but it is also a big waste of time. With no little things to zone out on, it seemed like the day that would never end. That's a good thing on a day off.

The day:

Reading a book.

Walked to the store with my daughter for donuts.

Consumed donuts and played around as I got ready for Church.

Church

Lunch with family at a new place in Surprise.

Worked in the back yard cleaning up and mowing the yard. 

Played Wii with Jenna

Dinner

Playing with my girls.

Put the girls to bed then myself.

Greatest and longest day ever.

Tweet solutions

I have been fighting Qwest on my billing charges for somtime now. I had gotten so frustrated that I was ready to just give up and change my phone and Internet service. This would cost me a little bit more then I with Qwest but the Interent would be a little bit faster and I might not need to call every couple of months to get things fixed. 

I posted my frustation on my blog and the tweeted Qwest suck and a link to my post. Much to my surprise I found a comment on my post from a Qwest manager that wanted to solve my problems. We have been going back and forth on my email for a couple of days now and he has taken care of all of my problems. All of my credits have been issued and I'm very happy now.

I'm not sure if he found me from twitter or from my website but he saved Qwest a customer by finding me.

6 days a week

I have decided to disconect from reality every Sunday. Life is so crazy and out of control that I don't know how to get a hold of things. Every Saturday night, before I go to bed, I will shut down the computer, turn off the cell phone, and not turn them back on until Sunday night before I go to bed. I'm going to insist upon no TV unless we are watching it as a family. I want to really have 1 quality day a week with my family without the interuptions of life. Sunday will be for goin for a walk, playing in the yard, playing the Wii, reading books, watching movies, and just having fun as a family.

Making the glass half full.

It's hard to stay happy and up beat these day. I actually like my job, and have a great life, but it is just hard to stay motivated and positive when everything is a mess around me. I have been trying to shift my focus of how bad things are, to how good things are. You know, a glass half full approach. My addiction to talk radio is probably not helping me much, but I would rather be informed, then just an ignorant happy person.

I have done small things like kissing my daughters everyday before work at 3am, complimenting the first 3 people I see in the morning, and exercising every other day. I have been amazed at how much these 3 small things have helped me have a better day. 

Is there anything you do to help yourself have a better day?

The Netti pot.

I'm having crazy allergies so this morning I tried a Netti Pot. It crazy, you pour a tea pot in one nostril and let it go through your nasal passage and come out the other nostril. It helped for a small time but about 30 minutes later I was sneezing and my nose was running again. Has anybody tried this with better results?

Qwest sucks!!!

I have been fighting with my internet company Qwest for about 6 months now. My bill is wrong every month and I have to call and ask them WTF!!! I'm ready to switch to Cox high speed internet. It will cost about $20 more dollars a month but I should get better service at 12Mbps instead of crappy service at 7Mbps.

Getting back to the grind.

Day 2 back from vacation is complete and I'm already missing the family. Vacation was so nice and peaceful with plenty of family time. Now we are back to the daily grind and it's a bummer.

The good news is that I was dearly missed at work and I once again proved that not just anybody can do my job. I need to go on vacation to remind them the reason they pay me every week. It's nice to be missed and respected, but I would rather be back on Vacation.

The last days

My vacation is coming to an end. It has been one of the best vacations I have had in sometime. We stayed home until Tuesday and then we headed to Cali for the rest of the week. No major events, just time together and relaxation.

It looks like I have saved the stock market.

On Monday I took all of my 401K out of stocks and put them in bond and cash accounts to stop losing money every month. Since Tuesday the Market has gone up about 500 points. I plan to wait 30 days then decide what to do. Go back in or stay out. But the fact that my luck is I will go back in and everything will tank again.  I will do what is best for my country and probably stay out for sometime. Your welcome all.

It's morning time and I'm in Cali.

Yesterday we got up messed around a little bit and then got on the road around 1:30pm or so. With no big hurry we made our trip to Long beach, California. It was a nice drive with no pressure. This has been one of the best vacations I have ever been on. It has been  productive and adventurous.

A day in the yard.

I spent a great part of the day in my back yard today. I pulled weeds, sprayed for weeds, mowed the grass and laid the foundation for a brick wall. We are planing to plant some fruit tress and make a large garden for vegetables.  It will be a lot of work, but I think that growing my own fruit and vegetables is a great idea.  Providing for my family encase all hell breaks loose is one of the goals with this, the other is to have fresh fruits and vegetables that I grow and control what is put into them. This could also save some money.

Weed control.

The weeds in the back yard have gotten out of control. Today me and the family went out back and were pulling weeds. After about an hour we hurt and had only accomplished about 1/4 of the job. I have decided to go to the Home Depot tomorrow and buy Weed Killer for the rock's and Turf Builder for the grass. If any body has a better plan that will save my back I'm willing to listen.

R and R

My vacation has finally arrived. It has been a long journey from the last one and I was in need of the time off. Only having 3 weeks a year of vacation is very lame. People aren't meant to spend 49 weeks a year at work. I plan to enjoy some time at home and then head to Cali on Tuesday. I hope Cali can keep It's shakes to a minimum next week. I'm not really interested in to much excitement.

Lock it up or die!!!

Child murders, are on the rise in an alarming way.  We just finished a trial where a 9 year old kid will serve no jail time for killing his father and a roommate. Now we have an 11 year old boy that shot and killed his dad's pregnant girlfriend. 

I have 2 issues here: parenting and parents.

1. The number one problem with both of these stories is the fact that the children had access to guns.  America had a run on gun sales when president Obama took office and apparently not a run on gun safes. Children act on impulse until they learn that has consequences. If you allow your children access to a gun they might use it on impulse and find out the consequences too late. 
2. Secondly, parents need to learn that having children is not raising children.  When did children lose the respectful fear of their parents? Children need to be taught respect and discipline.
   

Computer friends

I'm expanding my twitter and blog monitoring to people I have never met. Mostly friends of friends.  I have never branched out of my little circle of people but I'm starting to learn about different people and what they do in there lives. It's very odd intruding on the life of people I have never met, but I'm really enjoying it. People are truly interesting, and have always fascinated me.

Direct TV who?

Months ago we discontinued our Satellite service to Direct TV. I thought I would greatly miss all of my favorite TV shows and the DVR box.  I was wrong. Now I can't justify the 50 buck's a month. I went and purchased the Analog to Digital converter box and now I get 15 to 20 local channels. It was true with Direct there was always something on that I liked, but now if there is nothing on we watch a movie, play our Wii, or read. It's odd how your life can become involved in the life's of other peoples lives that don't really exist. Now if I miss one of my shows, I just miss one of my show and life goes on. No spending the weekend catching up on shows, I spend the weekend with people that matter.

Fitness test.

I have a fitness test coming up very soon and I have been training to reach some personal goals. I always considered myself a person that was in pretty good shape until I started training. I'm in horrible shape and it is going to take a lot work to reach my goals but I think I can do it.

Dawkblitz

I have slowly been become a sports fan and getting deeper and deeper into the addiction of sports. This all the fault of my good friend Jack Bevenour aka "Dawkblitz" aka "encyclopedia of useless sports information."

I have always told him he missed his calling of doing something in sports radio or TV. It is his dream to do this but he always thought it was to late. The other night out of boredom he wrote an email to a local sports radio show. They turned his email into a blog post on their website they liked it so much. He has now started writing for this website. It 's a step towards his dream. It pays nothing, but it is getting his name out with the people he wants to be. It mite turn into nothing but it could become something much bigger if the people think he has what it takes.

I'm just doing my part to support a dream, and if you are a sports fan.

Check him out at http://rocandmanuch.com/

See the posts by "Dawkblitz"

Daddy Kryptonite

I love my girls and family. I would consider myself a good dad that can take a lot. I have been pooped on, pissed on, slobbered on, and used as a kleenex with no problems. These things have just never bothered me.

Tonight I met my match. Mikayla has been sick and not feeling well all week and tonight after she was done eating she hurt her finger. This upset her and she was crying. When I went to pick her up to comfort her, she started vomiting on me. This is not something that I handled well. I almost vomited myself, and was dry heaving out of control.

Vomit is my Daddy Kryptonite. 

Where is the stuff I was promised 20 years ago.

I remember when I was a kid and thought that when I grew up we would have flying cars, and robots will clean our house and make us dinner. I started thinking the other day, what new inventions have come out in the past 20 years. We have improved on many inventions like , the computer, Internet, and TVs but have not truly made anything new. I'm truly disappointed in all the movies and television shows that tricked me into thinking my world would be so different in 20 years. All I wanted was a life like the Jetsons or maybe all the cool things you seen in Back to the Future 2.    

Major issues

I'm having a hard time choosing a major. My work will reimburse me 50% of my tuition for a job related major. My original thought was on education because I would love to teach and coach football for a living. I mean how awesome would that be, right! But then I realized 50% of $325 per credit hour is a lot of money at the end of my degree. Not to mention the pay cut I would take to be a teacher.

So what else would I love to do that my work will pay for?

I know that they would pay for degrees in sales, marketing, or business management. I do love the sales and marketing part of my job and I do believe that I'm very good at it. 

So now I'm considering a degree in marketing that my company will pay for half of and then I will right off the entire amount on my taxes. So I would actually make money in the end. Possible enough to pay for a second degree or maybe a masters degree so I can teach marketing or something like that at a community college.

Any suggestions or comments would be greatly appreciated.

 

College plans.

Just out of High School I went to College for about 1 and 1/2 years and accumulated about 33 credit hours. I was discouraged from finishing now because of the fact every school I talked to wanted me to retake my classes since it was 9 - 10 years ago. I recently talked to a University of Phoenix counselor and he said they would accept my classes from 10 years ago and let me pick up where I left off. I'm very excited, now I just have to decide a major and get started.

Not too much going on.

The blogs have not been coming to you as often as most would like. The bottom line is not much has been going on with me to talk about. I still have a job, and hang out with the family when I'm not at work. It's hard to talk about nothing so I post whenever something worth posting happens. 

Vista ate my CS4.

During the conversation I had with Adobe about my problem I concluded Adobe hates Windows Vista. You could say they aren't friends that's for sure. The tech quoted " the idiots at Microsoft obviously wanted job security for saps like me when the made Windows Vista, it's tech support hell for all new programs."  He had especially nasty things to say about the UAC (User Account Control) that came out new in Windows Vista.

All and all it was an annoying,  but good learning experience. I learned some really neat things about my computer and it's devil operating system. 

Computers are evil.

About 3 weeks ago my wife installed CS4 on our laptop. On Friday I went to use it and all of the main programs had disappeared. So today I reinstalled (failed), installed then reinstalled (failed). Then repeated the same proses logged in as my wife instead of me with the same results of failure. I then downloaded Adobe Support Adviser and it was also confused on what the hell had happened. It gave me an option to create a package to send to Adobe with a reference number for when I call. I will be calling them on Monday to hopefully get my Computer back on line for the business.

I'm part of the solution now.

Yesterday for the first time ever I wrote my politicians. I wrote them on how the need to vote on the economic stimulus package.  I have been apart of the problem with America until today.  These people work for me and if I don't tell them what I want, I can't expect them to just know. I had a great felling after I sent the email and I will continue to do this. America is heading down a bad road and only" we the people" have the power to stop the government from running our country. This country belongs to the people and the people must speak up.

Have you ever told your elected officials what you want?

The Super, Super Bowl

Last night I watch one the greatest football games I have ever seen. My team lost and I'm still think it was an amazing game. I was on an emotional roller coaster the entire game and it was very intense. Just ask my guest, or my neighbors 4 houses away in every direction. I love the sport of Football and I have always been a cardinal fan. This is just the first year they have really given my something to be excited about. I thought it was great last year when the had a 8 - 8 record. 
The only sad thing about today, is trying to decide what will I do every Sunday until the season starts back up.

BBrrr, it's very cold in hell.

2 weeks ago the Arizona Cardinals won the championship game to get into the Superbowl. This is the craziest thing ever. I would consider it the equivalent of hell being a very cold place. The Superbowl is the biggest game all year and I can't believe the Cardinals have made it. 

The good / bad news is I was insanely busy this week to prepare for the exceptionally large amount of Superbowl party's in Phoenix this weekend. We are expecting an exceptionally larger amount of beer sales for this Superbowl because of the Cardinals being in it. This little miracle by the Cardinals has at least delayed layoffs at my work. I just hope sales continue to do well so my company is not put in position to do layoffs soon.  

We now have a Wii

I have been going back and forth for some time now on what gaming system to buy. I really like the X-box 360, but with the red ring of death and the fact that it's a gamers system not a Family system stopped me from buying it. This weekend I broke down and spent my birthday and Christmas money on a Wii for me and my family. Yes I finally spent the Birthday money I received in June. I'm not a serious gamer, I'm a family man. So it only made sense to buy the family system and not the gamers system.

Anything positive?

I think it has been too long since I had a vacation.  All the stress of the doom and gloom outlook on the future is starting to get to me. I consider myself a pretty positive and upbeat guy but it is getting harder and harder to fell this way with all the negative surrounding me. Not sure if anybody knows of anything good going on, but I would love to hear about it. I know I'm just in a slump and things will get better soon, or maybe I'm having the almost 30 blues.

Learning curve.

I have been helping my grandfather update his computer system and get a new cell phone. His new computer is very nice dell and the phone is a blackberry storm. I have been learning as I go and then teaching him what I have learned. I'm very quick to pick up on things and explaining them in a much more sensible way. We both have a learning curve to over come but I think when it is all said and done we will both learn a lot.

I hope I'm not overwhelming him with technology that is very new to him. He know computers enough to figure all that out but I'm wondering if he will be able to understand the Blackberry storm. He has never used a Blackberry, or a touch screen before.

You inconsiderate asshole.

My 2 little girls and I were shopping at the grocery store the other night and my oldest had to use the restroom. There is a family restroom next to the pharmacy so I headed that way. I arrived at the restroom seconds before an older gentleman that also wanted to use the restroom. I figured he would be much quicker then me and my girls, so I let him go in first. I said to my girls lets run and get some Tylenol which was at a near bye isle. We did this quickly and as I arrived back at the bathroom I heard the toilet flush and then the gentleman walked out. He was startled by us standing their, and he quickly left. When I walked into the restroom I realized their was PISS all over the toilet seat. I let him go first and he pissed on the toilet seat that my daughter was about to sit on. I ran back out of the restroom and started yelling at him across the store. I don't recall everything I said but I know it got the attention of everybody in the store. I turned to the line at the behind me at the pharmacy and explained what had happened.  One of the ladies in line walked over and looked in the restroom to see, and yelled that son-of-a-bitch. A manager came over and cleaned the restroom for us and apologized. I told him I was sorry he had to clean up after some dirty old man, and there was no reason for an apology.

The guy is lucky I had a sick child in one arm and another that had to pee or I would of chased his ass down and kicked. I have never been so rudely treated in my life, and there is no excuse for this. I have kicked ass for much less.

Just me and the kids

This weekend I have given my wife some time off to work. Let me explain that confusing statement.

Kristina is trying to start our business and is getting some help from some professional (The DeCaro's) in California this weekend. Her job now is raising our children, laundry, cleaning house, and organizing our crazy life. Last night she got on a plane and is enjoy a long weekend off, but it will be to work on starting our business. She will also enjoy some adult time with adults so I'm sure that will be weired but enjoyable for her. 

Not sure what me and the kids plan to do, but I plan to continue a spontaneous streak. We purchased Kristina's plan tickets the night before she left.

Where is the line?

This Christmas I was given season 5 and 6 of Family Guy. The show is offensive, inappropriate, and one of the greatest shows I have ever seen. The show is absolutely hilarious, but it left me wondering where is the line between funny and too far. I can only guess that it is all in the delivery. 

If you are inappropriate as a joke, is it ok? 

Do you have to be animated for it to be ok?

Help my understand the line so I can write the next big hit TV show of inappropriate humor. People think I'm inappropriate but would never believe that I hold back a lot..

I'm back!!

It's been odd living a life that I don't share with you. I missed sharing my life with the few that read this blog. Welcome back to what is going on in my head. I was starting to have writers block at the end of the year. Now I'm refreshed and full of things to talk about.

Technology vacation.

My cousin took a technology vacation last week and it sounds very nice. So starting January 1 the computer will be off limits for me for 2 weeks. I will be on the computer at work for work stuff only, but once I get home it will be off limits.