Another step into geek hood.

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

A day of peace.

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

Murdered Friday.

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

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

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

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

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

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

I feel wierd.

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

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

Sleeping space.

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

Stephen's Monday Life Thoughts

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

A great season!!!!

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

GO BULLDOGS!!!

GAME-ON!!!! .

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

GO BULLDOGS!!!!!!

The season of learning.

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

A safe 2nd place

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

The last stand

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

Music, mood.

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

Stephen's Monday Life Thoughts.

Who thinks this is funny? 

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

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

Or 

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

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

What the hell is happening to this country?

The good times

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

Picture

Respectful minority.

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

How do you raise respectful children in a disrespectful world? 

How do you raise honest children in a dishonest world? 

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

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

A good time to be in a salary job.

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

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

Time for the Playoffs.

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

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

Busy times for me.

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

Amazing restaurant in Surprise

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

Stephen's Monday Life thought.

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

Wow!!! A growing industry.

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

All smiles!!!

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

More for less = the same.

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

Talk radio

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

Stephen Mitchell's message to President Obama

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

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

Bottom line, just don't screw me.

A day of doom and gloom.

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

Stephen's Monday Life Thoughts

Why do we hate people we don't know? 

Why do we disrespect people before we respect?

Why do we judge before we know?

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

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

You get 30 days in my head.

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

You really want to buy my crap?

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

Thank all and enjoy my crap.