The "contest"

My boss started this contest earlier in the year. He gave all the sales guys projections for sales. The person that sells the highest percentage over their projected sales wins. What do they win??? Well, a trip to Mexico. That is great. Unfortunately at the time I wasn't involved in the contest. Now things have changed. I have my own account and the contest rules have changed a little. Last week he told me if I meet a specified goal by March (the end of our fiscal year) that I would win a trip (with the wifey) to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. Woo Hoo. There would be a group of us. Isn't that exciting. Delilah said she isn't getting her hopes up. I am. I may even buy travel insurance.

Going to the Gym

We need to go to the gym. My employer pays for my family to have a pass to the YMCA. We rarely use it. We should go more often. I am not sure why we don't. I guess we just don't have enough time. I was getting up and going in the mornings. Well, I did that for like two weeks. Now I can't seem to get out of bed early enough. Delilah said I should go to the gym in the mornings and also take my shower there to save money on water. LOL. It would be better to go in the evenings but by time we eat dinner and clean up it is almost time for the kids to go to bed and then we are just plain tired. I guess if we want to lose weight we will have to try miracle burn.

Oh Christmas

Things are moving along in life. I can not believe tomorrow is December already. Where has all the time gone? We are going to pick up our Christmas tree tomorrow. The kids are excited about and Jude has been asking the whole week to put up lights in the house. He gets so excited about things. It is funny to watch him. The kids did pretty good last year with leaving the ornaments alone. We'll see how they do this year.


Need to give Kohler Faucets to someone for Christmas?

Post

I write for this company and they pay me to add a link to posts that I write. It is internet blog advertising. Sometimes they assign an easy word that can easily be incorporated into my posts. Sometimes they give you a strange word like skinceuticals. Is that even a real word? I guess it is a slang word. Oh wait....I just looked and it is the name of a product. The link is to a website that has skin care products. You might find a Christmas gift or two for the ladies in your life (you know your wife, mom, sister, daughter-in-law, etc... Good Luck.

King of the Road

I am becoming a real travelpro these days. We just got back from Delilah's parents house last Friday evening and I will be hitting the road again next week. This time I will be traveling for business purposes. I don't like to travel but the more I am on the road the more opportunity I have for growing the company, which directly effects my wallet.

On another note - today had her yearly "doctor" appointment. She didn't want to take all the kids with her (I can't figure out why) so she dropped Jude & Elise by the office. As soon as they get there they went straight for the snack room. Elise ate almost nonstop. It is crazy because she is so skinny.

The House Hunt

We are still looking at houses although it will probably be a while before we get to buy one. Lately we have been doing a lot of talking about how we are going to decorate our house when we finally get it. I would really like to have nicer furniture. What we have is functional and not horrible. I guess it could be a lot worse but I would like something better. We have several furniture stores around. We don't usually go into them. Once we were looking for a bedroom suit and called this number out of the paper. It was some shady operation where they sell furniture out of a warehouse. I only call it shady because the ad was in the classifieds with some guys name and number listed like it was some dude selling his bedroom suit. It was kinda weird and we never bought a bedroom suit. I guess I can add it to our list.

The Gym

I was getting up every morning and going to work out. That lasted for about one month. I am trying to get back into the groove but it is so dark in the morning and my bed is so warm & cozy. I can't get back on schedule. It would be nice if I could get exercise while watching TV. Some people but there stationary bike, stair stepper or ellipticals in their TV room and watch their television while getting fit. We don't have the room for that type of thing. I think I would be motivated if we did. Maybe in our new house......

Video Games

I have a XBox. It drives my wife crazy. I don't know why it does but it does. She bought the thing for me a while back when we used to waste money on dumb stuff. It was expensive and I haven't got my money's worth out of it but that is besides the point. She bought me a bunch of sports games but I only play one football game. Maybe when Jude is older he can play it. I don't want him to get hooked on video games for many reasons. I guess they can be educational but they can be bad. Well, all this talk about video games makes me want a xbox 360. Put it on my Christmas list.

House Shopping...

I am always thinking about buying a house. When we move I would like to get rid of all our old warn out stuff and buy newer things to fit the style of our new home. Delilah & I have talked about this a lot. The current living room suit we have is an old leather set. We bought it second hand and it has served it's purpose but it isn't very pretty. After we are done with it we will probably put it in the trailer in WV (someday one of us will tell you about that). Originally we were going to see if Eric (my brother) wanted to buy it and some other stuff for his place but I don't think he will want it now. Oh well. I don't know if we will be shopping for microwave ovens but we will definitely get a nice set of dishes and matching flatware. By matching I mean forks, knives and spoons that all match. Right now we have a mix matched set. They are down right ugly.

What a day

Today flew by. I had a meeting this morning with some guys from church at 8:00 am that I slept in for. I woke up at 7:45 and grabbed some clothes and flew to Ricco Lattes for the meeting. Then Delilah and left to pick up the kids from Mamaw and Papaw. We met them about half way for a late lunch. After we had lunch we drove back to the house. During the drive Jude and Elise both fell asleep. We could tell they were really tired when we picked them up. Now they are both sound asleep in bed. It took Elise about an hour to finally stay in her bed.
If you recall from an earlier post I had "given" Delilah permission to purchase a new lamp. Alas there is no need to purchase a new one. I got the old one fixed and is working fine. Maybe the next time arises I will check out some quoizel lighting.

Toy Season

Tis the Season for our kids to get a lot of new toys. Jude's birthday is in a few weeks. Then there is Christmas. Jude already has a zillion toys. He is really good about playing. He will play with his toys for hours. He has such a vivid imagination. He used to leave his room in a disaster area. Delilah finally gave up on keeping it in order. But, as he has gotten older he really likes to keep things neat and orderly. He has a place for everything. It is nice to see him take better care of stuff. For his birthday this year we bought him (don't tell him since he doesn't know yet) some clothes and a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle (his latest rage). I was thinking next year maybe we could go to a real hobby store and get him a nice train set. I think he would really love it.

Work

Work is going really well right now. I have graduated from being the "assistant" to being assistant/account manager/scanner guru. I am working on a very big "deal". If is goes through it will be like winning the lottery (except not quite as much money - but a lot of money nonetheless!). The owners have been in town this week and the office has been buzzing. I like it when things are happening. I am going to be traveling more. Travel means more opportunity so it is a good thing.

360 degree evaluation

Jewelry, Flowers and Girly Stuff

Yesterday I bought my wife flowers. I was actually mad at her but I did it because it was the right thing to do. I wasn't being very nice to her yesterday. She liked the flowers. She was happy. It made me think about how happy she would be if I bought her diamond rings. I bet she would REALLY like them. She isn't much of a jewelry person (although she keeps going to those jewelry home parties) but she does wear the engagement ring I bought her six years ago this month (I always remember dates like that). I guess since she has one she doesn't need another.

The House Hunt

The house hunt continues....

I drive my very sweet wife absolutely crazy with my house hunting. Just last week she made very ugly threats if I didn't stop. We aren't ready to buy a house because we are doing damage control with our credit. She keeps getting her hopes up and then is disappointed when nothing happens. Currently, we rent. We have been in the pink house for over a year now. We hope our next move will be into our own home. After our year lease was up we asked to be on a month to month lease in case we were able to purchase a home within the next year. It has been going well. This week we were informed of some unfortunate circumstances that may effect our living arrangements in the pink house. It is frustrating. There is a house we have walked through before and even snooped around some that is nice. The owner is willing to do a land contract or to rent it for now. We are going to walk through it again. We were hoping to move into one of the luxury homes we drive by all the day...but for now it isn't going to happen.

My Wife's Lamp

We have the worlds ugliest lamp. My lovely wife bought it at the Salvation Army long before I met her for $5. It is HUGE. I mean it is abnormally large for a table lamp. I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like it. It is one of those pieces of furniture that is so odd it is interesting. So, you can think of it as an "interest" piece. About a year ago, I "accidentally" knocked it off the little lamp table (BTW...the lamp is bigger than the table) and it broke. Delilah was going to go buy another lamp (God only knows what she would come home with next) so I fixed it. Now it has stopped working properly. I have it rigged up to work but it has cords coming from places that cords don't belong. I need to go to Home Depot to get a little part for it soon. I think I am going to give my fabulous wife permission to go buy a replacement lamp today. You are all my witnesses.

Is Fall Really Here?

I think Fall is really here now. It's amazing one week ago is was warm enough to have the air on. Now it's so cold outside you don't want to open the windows. I love having the windows open in the fall. It gives you the opportunity to smell the fresh crisp autumn air. Oh well, may be it will warm up again enough to have the windows open for a little bit.


Looking for drug rehabs?

Driving Around

Last night after I got home from work I suggested that we go for a drive through the country side (the valley) we hadn't done this for a long time and I thought this would be a good time out. While driving we drove past this house that was for sale. It is an ideal house for us. On the opposite side of the street is the Cuyahoga Valley National Park and across the other street is an elementary school. I don't really like living in the "city" I would love to have a couple acres and be more out in the "country." Unfortunately to do this requires some substantial money. More than what we can afford at this time. Which is really a bummer.

Need some mail boxes?

The Pig Stye

Things are moving right along in the Miller household. I came home from work yesterday to find that Delilah had done a ton of work around the house. She is on a new plan of getting everything organized like it should be. She has been going through most of the kids clothes and sorting them out and getting ready for the next season of clothes. She also cleaned up Elise's room. It was a pig stye. I thought Jude had messy rooms when he was her age, but Elise's messy room takes the cake. I try to get her to pick up her room a little bit at night before going to bed. When she doesn't follow through with listening to what I tell her, I let her know that I'm going to throw some of her toys away. She could care less if her toys were thrown away. At least with Jude the idea if throwing his toys away got some kind of response out of him. I wouldn't be surprised to one day find some kitchen sinks in her messy room.

Homes

As many of you know, Delilah and I have been looking for a house to buy since we have been married. I am always looking for a house to buy. I think this annoys Delilah a little bit. Probably because I get her hopes up all for nothing. I've been thinking a little bit more this week about the prospects of buying a house. People can by a house right at the edge of their price range and then not really afford to decorate or furnish the house properly. On the other hand you can buy a house that you can really afford and down the road you can make improvements to it to fit your style. I am leaning towards the latter. Since we have been married we have never had a nice living room, bedroom, dining room suite. Not that I want the most expensive furnishings, it would be nice if the items in a particular room matched each other. Maybe I will have to spend much more time looking at Bush furniture.

I Saw Something Interesting

While driving to my hotel after my last appointment I saw something I haven't seen in a long, long time. One time driving to Colorado I saw these huge sprinkler systems in the fields. They were huge. It was like a bunch of triangles connected together in a straight line on wheels. What happens is one of two things. These sprinklers can move in a straight line down the field or they can move in a circle with one side in a fixed position. So back to today. I was driving along and I saw these huge sod fields, (fields that grow grass) they had these sprinklers in the fields, my first thought was only in America to we water grass (in the middle of a drought) to sell to somebody else to make their yard all green.

Costume Jewelry

I Had a Dream......

I cannot believe that is October 1st already. This summer just flew by. It seams like yesterday we were watching the 4th of July parade with our friends and Delilah was prego. Now, Avery is 9 weeks old and it's October and it is now fall time. Before you know it, I will be out shoveling the snow.
They say we have dreams every night but I never seem to remember them. But I did remember this one. In this dream, I dreamed that I was in Texas on a sales trip. I was in the Dallas area. At the same time Bill Clinton and George W were touring together trying to present some new ideas. I had the chance to meet them. When I met them this is what I said, Mr. President and Mr. Ex-President right now you are the two most powerful and influential people in the world right now. Now is the time for you bring the country together. You have a great opportunity to bring everyone together for the good of the country. It is time to focus on the things that you agree on instead of what divides you. I don't care if you are pro-choice, anti-abortion, pro-war or anti-war, or whatever disagreements you may have. Now is the time for you to sit down and have an open discussion on the things that are dear to your heart. Things like helping others better themselves, giving, charity work. Instead of using words to divide, you need to use your words to build togetherness. Now is the time.



Custom Pens

Traveling Again..........

Well this next week will be a busy week for me. I'm back on the road again. This week I am in North Carolina and South Carolina then will head up to Virginia for an outage at a power plant. I need to help set the stab depths for some equipment that was purchased. This should lead to some additional business. I hope. Delilah doesn't like to me to travel that much. I think it's tough on her to take care of the kids and be a single mom for the week while I travel. In the end it will hopefully be all worth it. She sacrifices so much I hope to be able to pay her back some day if it's possible.


Commercial Collection Agency

Tired of looking

Delilah and I have been looking for a house since we got married. We will be married 6 years in December. I looking for houses. I enjoy seeing what is available and like to write down ideas for our future house. Maybe it is time to find a realtor to look for a house for us. We know we want to buy a house this next spring or summer. Maybe the timing will be right this time around or not. I guess we will have to wait and see.

My Office

I rearranged my office about a month ago. It went from the desk facing the "main" walkway and the right side of the desk perched next to a wall to having a divider where the front of the desk use to be and now the front of the desk is against the wall where the right side of the desk use to be. I'm saying this because I now have a 2 foot by 3 foot void between the right side of desk and the wall and my shelf and the wall.
This is just an empty open spot where I can't really put anything because it is not easily accessible. I thought about buying one of those Fatheads to put up on the wall that you always see in commercials but I figured that wouldn't look very professional. After doing a little more thinking and research I think what would work best might be some silk trees. I wouldn't have to worry about watering it and it doesn't need sunlight. All the while bringing a little of nature right into my office.

3,2,1, IMPACT!!!

Seriously, what are you doing? What are you doing with your life? On my flight between CAK and CLT I sat in front of 2 guys that were talking about their careers (they knew each other from previous jobs or something) and about the the houses they have and the cars they drive and etc, etc, etc. I so badly wanted to ask them..... "So what's all the meaning of this? No one is going to remember all those things about you." So my question is......... what are you doing with your life to make an impact in the world, nation, state, county, city, neighborhood, work, church, friends? Are you challenged? Do you challenge yourself to make an impact? It only takes a little to make an impact. Most likely you won't realize you made an impact until years later.
What will it take for you to make an impact? Or will you wait till it's to late to do anything?

It Feels Good to be #1

I finally had a chance to be #1 and I pounced on it. I was the first person to vote from 2F at my polling station. So as you remember 9-11 today, make sure you vote. Voting is our duty as citizens of the United States of America. Some people never get the chance to cast a ballot, will you be on those people that has the privilege to vote but won't do anything about it?

Fred Thompson

Michigan Part 2

Ok, so maybe I was a little hard on Coach Lloyd Carr. I'm not jumping off the Michigan fan wagon but none the less I am disappointed with game performances in key match ups. I don't understand how you let a team come in on your home turf and whoop up on you. I will still be rooting for Michigan in their games. This could turn out to be the worse thing that could happen for the rest of Michigan's opponents this year. You better watch out.

Michigan will not be in the hunt for the National Championship unless everyone loses 2 games and Michigan goes on to win the rest of their games.

Later.

Nice Pants

Boycotting the Big Blue (Michigan Wolverines)

I've been a Michigan fan since I was in elementary, I would always root for them. Don't worry I would root for Ohio State also, but when it came to the big game it was all Michigan for me. That is, until September 1, 2007. The world saw the biggest upset unfolding in front of their eyes. I saw it in the first quarter. I knew Michigan was in trouble. Appalachian State dominated against Michigan at the big house.

I have come to the conclusion that I have had enough of Lloyd Carr, he needs to go. He is not able to prepare his team for the big games. Let's take a look at a brief history.

During the last 6 bowl games Michigan is 1-5
During the last 6 OSU games Michigan is 1-5
To add insult to injury Michigan is now forever linked as the only Top 25 team (top 5 team) to be beaten by a division I-AA team.

Until Lloyd Carr is fired or resigns I will not root for Michigan again. I will remain a homeless college football fan.

Go......

The Blue Period

Here I sit at my computer. Not really knowing what to write about. I (we) really want to buy a house. To have a place to call home that we can what we want to do with it. I am tired of renting, renting sucks the sour grape. I'm tired of living in the "pink" house. And yes it is pink, no joking about. Imagine Pepto-bismol on a 2 story 1100 square foot house. Not a pretty sight. So I digress. I have decided to change my layout to blue. I am going to call this the blue period of my blogging adventure.

I don't read many blogs anymore. I don't even keep up with my families blogs very often. (Sorry Tim & Steph) Delilah will ask me if I have read such and such on such and such's blog. I'm always like, "Huh, nope" Good story by the way Tim, about the rabbit.

So, I guess this is all I have for the day. If your lucky I might post sooner than 30 days next time.

Later.

A Week in Review

It has been an interesting week and a quick one at that. Avery is doing well. She is getting into a good schedule and sleeping good at night. Not that her night schedule effects me to much since I can't feed her. I'm not quite equipped for that, thank goodness. Delilah and I had some intense fellowship earlier this week, I could just blame it on her hormones being whacked out, but that wouldn't be very accurate it was more me than anything else. Yesterday was Avery's one week check up afterwords we stopped by my work to show her off to everyone, when we got there everyone was at a retirement party so we just went their and showed her off. She slept through the whole lunch it was great.
If you read Delilah's blog you already know that I'm planning on heading into the office. At this point I plan on working half days. Work said I could have two weeks off but I want to get back into it so I'm not completely out of the loop.
Other than that everything is going well for the first week of Avery's life.

-Fly on.

DING, DING, DING

And in this bassinet weighing in at 7 pounds and 7 ounces, 20-1/2 inches long coming to us from the 07/27/2007 13:02............ Avery Skye

Jude, Elise, and Avery

Avery after being tattooed for the foot printing

Adjustment of baby arrival countdown

I adjusted my baby arrival count down, I didn't put in time for the c-section procedure. I am estimating the baby arrival for 12:30 pm

Another Incovenient Truth: Al Gore, the Holllywood Elite and Global Warming

I've been thinking about the global warming and "famous" people for a while and this past Sunday I began thinking through some ideas I could post. Just a warning, while reading this post please don't think I stand on either side of global warming, I am just trying to make a point.

Al Gore has a global warming agenda as documented by "An Inconvenient Truth" and the Hollywood elite are riding his coat tails and would love for him to run for president.

Let me ask this question. What are you doing personally to fight against global warming?

You can talk all you want about it but lets take a look at a few things.........

1. What about your house? I'm sure it's a large multi-million dollar property. How many square feet is it? I'm sure you have a/c to cool your house during the summer and surely you heat it during the winter months if you live somewhere it is cooler. The larger of house you live in the more energy it takes to either heat or cool it. How does that contribute to your global warming cause?

2. What about flying to your engagements? I'm sure you own your own private jet where only a few people fly on it with you? Is it really less pollution per person to fly in your own jet compared to a commercial airline?

3. What kind of car do you drive? Do you drive a hybrid or a vehicle with high mpg? Or do you drive a gas guzzler?

4. Do you use disposable or cloth diapers for your babies?

5. Do you really take the time to recycle? Or is throwing everything into one trash bin much easier for you?

6. What about drying laundry? Dryer or clothesline?

My list could go on for a while, I hope you are getting the point I'm trying to make. Why should I listen to anyone about global warming when they themselves aren't doing anything practical on an individual level to combat it. The people that get the most airtime speaking out about global warming have the best resource to do something about it on an individual level. They have the money to spend on eco-friendly products. Solar panels, hybrids, etc, etc, in general the things that cost to much for the average consumer.

In closing, it is easy to talk the talk, but can you walk it.

The Great Name Debate

It's hard to believe that there are less than two weeks left until my third child arrives in the world. Yet, we don't have a name picked out. We don't seem to be connecting with the names. So far I have picked out---
Amelia
Ava
Graciela
Joella
Kailee
Taite

Hopefully we will be able to settle the great name debate.

By the way, did you know that Jimmy Carter was the first president to be born in a hospital.

Alaska

I have a tough time putting into words my experience in Alaska. I went on two backpacking trips on the same trail and I've been on two Coast Guard helicopter rides. I love Alaska, I hope to return back to Alaska. I don't know if I'll go backpacking or not. Just last week I told Delilah I was thinking about selling my backpacking equipment. I haven't used it since my last backpacking trip to Alaska in 2001. I have a box full of pictures from my backpacking trips. These are just five pictures I liked the most while doing a quick skim through my Alaska pics. These are from my first trip to Alaska in 1999. No with out further ado......

This was the furthest we made it on the first trip. We were about a full day out from the final destination.

The infamous Coast Guard. The ridge behind the chopper is about one mile away.

A classic boulder scramble.

Pops in shorts in the snow!?!?!?

This is my all time favorite picture of any trip I've been on. I actually have this picture framed poster size in our living room.

I hoped you enjoyed.

Your brother must be Jason -->A Family Reunion Thing

This past weekend we attended my family reunion in Holmes County Ohio. There were approximately 175 people there of which probably 90 were my first cousins. This is the first time I have seen this much of my family for a long time. I have to be honest with you. I didn't really want to go to the reunion. Delilah really wanted to go, she gets excited about learning new things about the Amish. I wasn't really looking forward to it.

My family all call me Jason. I had forgotten about this until I was talking to one of my cousins and he was able to place me with as my dad's son but didn't remember my name. I told him it was Jake and he replied "Oh your brother is Jason." Um, no that is me.

All in all it was a good time to be there. I was able to talk to my Aunt and Uncle a little bit. They moved to Coshocton and now he is helping with the internet sales at Woodbury Outfitters a hunting outfitter. It is my cousins business. I was able to pass around the fliers he gave to me to some of my co-workers at work. They really seemed excited about it.

Delilah and my cousin Emma really hit off, the next time they have to come to the Akron area they are going to go thrifting together. Delilah can't wait. I'm sure she will blog about that experience.

Later

Running with the Consequences

Everything we do has a consequence to it. It can either be a positive or a negative consequence. I have done some horrible things in my short lifetime which I have apologized for over and over but it doesn't change the fact that I will have consequences for it for a long time.
God will and does forgive us for our sins. This doesn't mean that when we sin and ask forgiveness that there are no consequences for our sin. We still will have consequences for our actions. Consider David from the old testament, he did some horrible things. God forgave him yet he still had consequences for his actions. The things that David did, didn't mean that God couldn't use him in powerful ways. God used David in mighty and powerful ways.
The Apostle Paul is another great example. He was a horrible persecutor of Christians. But God was able to use him in a powerful way.
I guess what I am trying to say here is that even though we may do horrible things, we have to allow the consequences to run its course. A lot of good can come out of horrible situation if you allow God to take control of the situation.
My hope is that God uses me a sliver of how He used Paul and David.

Are you still Alive?

Yessss, I am still here with a smashed finger. Today while on the 100 Acres Wood I was helping to move a pin on the excavator. I knew that a finger would get smashed if I had my fingers in the way, I had all my fingers out of the way on my right hand but I still had my index finger on my left hand behind the pin. Would you know it, it got smashed. It still has some tingling on the end of it. For all I know it could be broken, but I doubt it is. It is swelled up pretty good and does hurt when I use it to open something up, etc.

It was a good weekend in the woods. It was a lot of relaxing. We pinpointed a good area we would like to build/move a house on. It has a nice view overlooking Pike Hallow. I'm not sure why it is called Pike.

We are driving around Tim's Subaru. They have our Corolla, Tim is interested in selling his car. It's a little bit bigger than our car and get about the same gas mileage. I have been wanting to buy a little bigger car for a while but haven't really pursued it.

I guess that is all for now.

Later.

Wordless Wednesday....Going to Work!

Wordless Wednesday

The Year is Coming to an End

No not the calendar year but our fiscal year is coming to a close today. This past week has been a whirl wind adventure. I am glad it's coming to an end because I couldn't do another week like this until next March and I know Delilah and the kids wouldn't appreciate any more weeks like this. Actually I only saw my family for literally 5 minutes when Jude wanted to drop off a Reese's Cup at work for me. Such a thoughtful little boy. They are my favorite.

Peace out and lots of rest this weekend.

It's a................

G.I.R.L. Yep it's a girl. Now all we have to do is come up with a name, easy right? Yeah right. Don't worry she will not be named Lola, there have been to many already ambushing me on that one. Although I do like it.

Later.

Looking for a team

With spring training in full force for MLB, it got me thinking that softball season is just around the corner. Since our church doesn't have a team, I figured I would try my chances at being "signed" as a "free agent". ;-) Any takers? Last year I played for the first time in about five years. I didn't realize how much I missed it and forgot how much fun it was to get together and play a game or two.

Peace

An adjustment

What is with the time change? Since the time has changed I want to go to bed earlier and wake up later. I have to drag my butt out of bed in the morning. I just don't have the energy to get moving. I wish they wouldn't have changed the clock so early this year. I don't get it.

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

March Already?

It's hard to believe that it is already going on March 8th. I have been so busy with work, working long days. Monday I left the house at 6:40 in the morning and didn't get back home till 7:30 pm. Today I left work at 6 pm. I have a feeling that it will be like this the rest of the year. Hopefully I will be able to hold up and not get to tired. I don't think I ever had much endurance when it came to working a lot of long days in a row. We'll see how this month goes for us.

We went to the doctor for the monthly baby check up. We were able to hear the heart beat really well this time. It's amazing that something in Delilah has a heartbeat. We find out on March 19th whether we are having a BOY or girl. I have already decided that we should name the baby Grayson or Lola. Delilah is not to excited about those names, but I think they are great. Anyhow.

It snowed another couple of inched this morning. I looks really nice. It gave everything a nice new coat of white. Makes it look new. I like the snow, I really like to drive in it. Nothing is more fun than doing a fish tail when making a turn. I just have to watch out for those other people on the road.

I guess that is it for now. Knowing me I probably won't post again until April. ;-)

Later

Bluffton University

Today I found out that a charter bus was involved in an accident in Georgia at 5:30 this morning. The bus was on its way to Florida, it was carrying the baseball team from Bluffton University (formally Bluffton College). I probably don't know anyone that was on the bus but that is not what matters. Bluffton is a school of just over 1,100 students. It is a very close knit community. When I attended Bluffton a former student was killed during a freak tree cutting accident in Orrville, Ohio. That incident shook the campus. I can't imagine what this accident will do since it claimed 6 lives. You can read the article at FoxNews.
Although I am no longer a part of Bluffton this accident still effects me. It's hard to explain it.

Thursday Thirteen #2 - Ohio Snow Pics

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For more Thursday Thirteen Participants visit HERE!

NASCAR 2007

I am so excited about the upcoming season of NASCAR. Since Delilah went to a baby shower today I was able to watch Speed Channel most of the day. I was able to watch most of both practice sessions for the Daytona 500 and the ARCA 200 race. I am also excited about Toyota entering the playing field of NASCAR. A lot of die hards are not so excited about it because they view NASCAR as an American sport for American manufacturers. But the thing is, while the American motor companies are downsizing or moving production else where, Toyota is building more plants to make more vehicles. I think it will be a tough year for Toyota in the Nextel Cup circuit but I will still be rooting for them. Don't worry, Ryan Newman is still my favorite driver. But I must admit, Tony Stewart has moved into my #2 spot for drivers. To bad they don't drive for Toyota. I can't wait for the Bud Shootout to start tonight. Wahoo.

Wordless Wednesday & Tattoo Meme - 2 Birds With One Post!

For more Wordless Wednesday Go HERE.
For the Tattoo Meme Go Here.
For the story of my tattoo GO HERE.

A Chilly Saturday

The Northeast Ohio weather is back at it. It is currently 18 degrees outside and windy. The first part of next week is the highs are going to be barely in the positive range. Brrrr. Things have been going crazy at work. It has been non stop. That is part of the reason I haven't been posting anything. I am just to tired and am not sure what to write about half the time. I sit down to write about something and I end up not having anything to write about. It's a bummer.
Today has turned into a stay inside day. It makes me cold to just think about going outside.
Hope everyone has a warm blanket.

Later

Take this really super cool quiz about me.

Copy Cat #2 Take my quiz! Take This Quiz | See Scores | Make Own Quiz

Get Your Thumb Out of My Eye: What is a Job?

Get Your Thumb Out of My Eye: What is a Job?

I thought this was an interesting view on minimum wage.

Thursday Thirteen #1

Thirteen Things about ME Well, I decided to join in with the fun of Thursday Thirteen. For my first Thursday Thirteen I have decided to list my thirteen favorite bands/groups in no particular order. U2 DMB (Dave Matthew's Band) Toby Mac The Flaming Lips Grits Third Day Plumb Fatboy Slim Moby Simon & Garfunkel James Taylor Beastie Boys Kenny Chesney - because she thinks my tractor is sexy

For more Thursday Thirteen craziness click here

Congrats to Rob

While working in Texas at Heartlight Ministries I had the privilege of working with Rob. Rob was in charge of fundraising and etc and was from Florida and a big Gator fan. He often got ridiculed for being a Gator fan in the heart of Aggie country.

My props off to Rob and the rest of the Gator faithful. Job well done.

Go Wolverines.

Communicating

If you haven't noticed I am a man of few words. This is not only present while trying to blog but also while communicating with my lovely wife. On a recent trip home from TN I hadn't said a whole lot to her. She brought this up while we going through Columbus. After she said this I tried to start some kind of conversation with her but nothing really panned out. I know what your thinking. How can be you married for five years and not communicate well with your wife? I don't have a simple answer for your question. I tend to internalize many of my thoughts and do not have an easy time of putting my thoughts into words that correspond with what my thoughts are and also make sense all at the same time. Does this make sense? I sure hope so.

While at work today, my great boss told me I should go on the Fish website. He said that they had a list of questions to ask your spouse. You probably think it being a little corny to do, but it was actually fun. It took us about an hour and half to go through the list but yet it was still fun. Here is the list.

15 crucial questions you should ask your spouse

1. When I turn on the TV, which channel do I usually turn on first?
2. Which of our dates was my favorite?
3. Was I named after anyone? If so, who?
4. What is my biggest fear?
5. Ketchup: on my fries or next to them?
6. Who in my family do I feel closest to?
7. What's my favorite band of all time?
8. What's my biggest pet peeve?
9. Do I shower facing the showerhead or with my back to it?
10. What is my dream job?
11. In what kind of car did I learn to drive?
12. Was I on any sports team or in any clubs while growing up? Which ones?
13. What's my favorite day of the year?
14. What would I do with a million dollars?
15. What do I love most about you?

This is another fun thing.

7 questions about your marriage

A sociologist from The University of Illinois found if you can answer yes to these 7 questions that your marriage has a 99% probability of lasting forever…

1. Did you both grow up in small towns rather than large urban areas?
2. Do both of you get along with and like your parents?
3. Do you not move often (from town to town)?
4. Was the woman in the relationship employed before the relationship?
5. Is the woman at least 1 year older than the man?
6. Were you married in the church or by a religious person?
7. Neither of you is an only child.

Peace out.

A New Year, A New Start

Welcoming in the New Year allows us to sit back and ponder over the past year and learn from the mistake which we have made and caring them into the new year. Although the calendar starts with a clean slate things that are done during the past year are not wiped away.

How nice it would be if all our regrets, mistakes and misery just could be wiped away when ever the ball dropped. I guess if this were to happen then it would make things to easy for all of us and we wouldn't learn from our mistakes.

I have decided to take 2 things with me into the New Year and make them my resolutions.
1) I am going to learn from my mistakes
2) I am going to live a healthier lifestyle. One of my goals for this healthier lifesyle is to take off 25 pounds. We'll see.

I hope everyone has had a great start to a new year.

Later