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!!!!