NON-Fiasco Christmas

One would think that Christmas at our home would be a fiasco… 6 kids and all… but it was incredible.
Sure the kids were up at the crack of dawn and woke us up 6:30… but it was our youngest son that slowed up the whole ‘presents’ thing. We finally dragged him down around 5 til’ seven. He perked right up when he realized what was amiss!
If you recall, the kids made each other presents.
And that was the absolute thrill of the morning.
Each child had their chance to present their hard work to the others one at a time.
The greatest fun I got was not just watching the kids open and squeal with joy at the gifts… but to watch the ‘giver’ squeal as the present was well taken. Awesome. Priceless.
The home-made stuff ranged from stuffed animals to a ‘carrot’ mobile and I even got a game [box, tokens, game board, and instructions!!!]
My youngest son, 3 years old, realized a few days ago that the others were wrapping gifts and placing them under the tree… so he began wrapping his own gifts. He wrapped a sippy cup for our baby… I wish it hadn’t had juice in it. He wrapped his own stuffed animals for the kids [which he quickly retrieved upon their opening]. I was in hopes of finding my glasses, which disappeared about the time he started wrapping!?
I’m sure they will turn up here pretty soon.
I haven’t looked ON the Christmas tree yet… they may be an ornament!
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.
God Bless You Everyone.

18 Years

I can’t believe it either. 18 loooooooooong years! :)
I remember Indiana Jones saying, “It’s not the years… it’s the miles.”.
My wife and I celebrated our Anniversary by doing the normal 18-year anniversary thing… we went rock climbing. Doesn’t everyone do that?
It was great.
There is a nearby indoor rock-climbing gym with a great facility.
One of the rock faces we climbed had about a 6 foot overhang [about 30 feet up or so]. The instruction we got was to keep our feet on the rocks somehow and NOT to hang like a monkey.
Well… my legs slipped and there I was, hanging by two rocks.
I lifted my legs back up but couldn’t get them to stick… and my forearms didn’t want to move either.
Dang.
So I came down the rope [belay].
Then my wife goes and climbs the wall like a gecko!
She had some difficulty on the overhang too, but managed around and up the rest of the face.
She rocks!
I swore to get back and do it again sometime… we even made plans to visit once a month.
Together! I hope this is a new thing for us… I really like it and spending quality time with her is great too.
We love the kids and all, but it’s nice to hang out together… just us.
We finished the evening off with some coffee at Starbucks and some very well prepared Vietnamese food.
Happy Anniversary Baby… Got you on my mind.

It's Snowing!

I didn't have to look outside the window here at work to know it was snowing... my kids have been flooding my email inbox!
They are so excited.
It usually only snows 1 day a year here in these parts - Virginia USA.
My kids are making a patch of snowballs and putting them in the freezer so they can throw them down my neck when I get home!
I layed down last year and made a snow angel in the 1/8" deep snow in our yard. :) The kids remember it all too well.
I'm glad it's snowing - sure I gotta walk a mile to my car - but hey, it's this white stuff the kids will remember for another year.
:)

Shopping

It's this wonderful 'giving' time of year that reminds me of how much...
I hate shopping.
:/

Quotable Quote

My wife finally had 'THE TALK' with my 10 year old girls.
They had recently heard about the 'Miracle of Birth' [friends having babies] and simply asked...
"Mom, where do babies come from anyway... you know, how does it happen."
My wife told them both gently and carefully so they didn't miss anything.
There was a slightly uncomfortable pause...
And then one of them said, "Oh, poor daddy".
:)

Triumphant Party

Just had our company's Christmas Party.
Heavy hors devours [pork loin and salmon], jumbo shrimp and some drinks... mostly chit chat.
It was good to see everyone with their spouses... you forget what they look like since we only see most of them once a year.
Guys were wearing whatever wasn't in the wash, but the women were testing out their newest dresses.
I'll never understand why some folks think these parties are supposed to be a 'show'.
Anyway.
All in all...
That was a GREAT Christmas Party...
[Please finish the sentence with a quote from Triumph the Insult Comic Dog]

If you don't know what I'm talking about you need to visit this link...
http://www.nbc.com/nbc/Late_Night_with_Conan_O'Brien/video/triumph.shtml

A friend sent me that link and I totally laughed out loud.
Triumph is an extremely rude dog... but hits a funny bone.

We are going to have a fun time with this one for a while.
:)
Here... have Triumph poop on your friends website...
http://www.triumphtheinsultcomicdog.com/

New Christmas Family Tradition

Nothing deeply philosophical today [perhaps I have never been deeply philosophical so who cares]
Just simple blogging...

My kids are all making presents for each other this Christmas.
We've been helping them change their focus away from the commercialism that surrounds Christmas and back to good ol' home-grown family values.
Sure we get them all a stuffed animal, fill their little stockings and pick a 'biggie' off their lists.... but for the most part we we're trying to shift the big 'present-fest' to their birthdays while at the same time shifting emphasis to remember the TRUE meaning of CHRISTmas at Christmas.
Um... Emanuel... God with us....Christ born in a manger and all that.
:)
It's really been fun.
The girls are making... holy smokes... I nearly blogged what they are making for each other... I almost did a total blogging faux-pas.
All I can say is there is tons of glue, felt, beans, buttons, wood, nails, sandpaper, etc... all over our craft table and we are totally having a great time doing it.

The hardest thing is NOT making the presents for them. I have had to pull back my artistic guidance more that once as I encourage them to 'do it their way'. So what if they can't tell what it is when they open it... their sibling MADE IT!!!!!
This whole thing was a brainstorm I had last year and was even expected this year since it went so well in 2002.
Hey look at me... starting a family tradition!
Good luck with yours.

Rite of Passage

It's high time I put some thought into this.
My eldest son is about to turn 13... a teenager!
I can't believe it's been thirteen years.
Thoughts come to mind about the passage of Boy to Man.

Different cultures do it differently... like a show I watched when I was a kid about natives that had to tie vines to their ankles and jump from the tops of trees. They had to TOUCH the ground with their hand before the vine jerked them back up again. If they didn't touch... it didn't count. [Likewise if they miscalculated it and touched with their whole head, they were instantly taken from the gene-pool]. It what the very first bungy jumping I believe.
Other cultures have their kid go out on wild adventures alone and return "A Man".
Yet others take the kid behind closed doors and perform 'rituals' with/to them.

In today's 'rich culture' most kids kinda just grow up, often without rites and ceremonies... and even more often, without any guidance whatsoever.
Somewhere in the late teens they look around and wonder where to go or what to do... and in their 20's they look back and say... "I guess I'm here."... not knowing if they have actually arrived, since most of the trail markers are gone.
Some kids have a party where they are patted on the back, but I think real guidance is often overlooked.
Other kids get blistering drunk or high or pregnant or locked-up with their friends... or worst of all their ritual, their rite of passage is nothing more than 'FINALLY LEAVING HOME'.
It's more of a departure than an arrival.
In some families both the parents AND the kids look forward to it.

I certainly don't know all the answers... but I see much room for improvement on the way this is typically handled... or NOT handled as the case may be.

I see I need to give this some special thought.

If you're not cheating you're not trying.

Boy did I get a ration for saying that.
My wife couldn't believe I said it in-front of the kids.
She couldn't believe I said it at all... and then I really got a second dose when I told here I liked the saying because I believe it. But she wasn't going to sit around and listen to my defense/explanation... and so I can only hope she reads it here.
:)
Woof.

I defended the saying that I had heard echoing from my UDT/SEAL instructor.
It didn't mean to blatantly 'cheat' and be a deceitful schemer and a liar... it was more.
It means that life can sometimes throw you a curve ball and you may have to break a few rules to stay in the game.
That didn't sound any better...
It means that sometimes you will have to think outside the box to accomplish your goals - especially when the odds are stacked against you.
That sounded better...
There is the quick story of when I heard this saying - for the first time...

SEAL training isn't all eating sand and carrying logs... we actually had formal classroom training too. Go figure. You don't learn about weapons,bombs and tactics by trial and error.
Anyway. One day we all found ourselves on the floor between desks pressing out 50+ pushups and barking out the count for each. [Someone must have asked a stupid question]. Anyway, the instructor stepped outside the room and down the hall but kept a ear tuned to our progress. It wasn't very long before one at a time we all started laying on the deck, still barking the count, but NOT doing the pushups. The camaraderie was incredible. You could feel the whoosh of TEAM flow thru you as we ALL joined in 'getting one over on the instructor'. We reached 50 and yelled 'HOOYAH' at the top of our lungs. [That was the way you asked to 'recover' back to your seats.] By now we were all 'up' and looking like we had done 50. The instructor stepped into the room with a huge smile on his face. "Don't even think for a second I don't know what you did". Instant internal panic. "Good job... If you're not cheating you're not trying... now HIT THE SURF." We all scrambled to our feet and climbed over desks and men out the door and into the nearby waves. We returned to our seats soaking wet and continued the class - pools of sea water widening under our desks.

Glean what you can from that... I learned something about being on a TEAM.

There are many stories like this that I will pass on to my sons as we go.
And God willing - they will be the kind of men that kill dragons for their wives. You'll see.

Sorry honey, It's a guy thing.

Sea of Sedan

Didn't see a single Hummer today.
No Mazerattis, no Porches, no Lamborghinis, no Corvettes... nothin'.
I drove home in the drizzly rain in a sea of sedans.
There was an SUV or a pickup here and there... but I would say 90% of America owns a car that looks pretty much like everyone else's car.
Do you remember when we were kids and you would ride in your parents sedan with your nose on the side window?
You and your siblings [usually boys do this] calling out car makes.
"There's a Chevy."
"That one's a Ford."
"Hey, I see a Dodge, no wait... it's a Chevy."
Kids these days just don't do that... all the cars look the same.
It's like... who cares.
Do kid's count cows still? You know... driving thru the country... you take the left side and I take the right... whoever gets a hundred cows wins... and a horse erases all your cows!
We used to play the Alphabet game too. Pulling A-Z off of signs, billboards, license plates... anything - to see who could get thru the alphabet first. I STILL play that game! My kids love it and even wanna try it on our way to church on Sunday.
Most kids I see these days are playing with a Gameboy or have earphones on... mostly so they don't hear their parents.
Sad.
Crazy how things change.

Hummers

Ok... who are these people?
I saw a Hummer parked in front of our office yesterday... and another one rolled past me on the freeway this morning.
What do these people do for a living?
I mean, isn't the H1 or H2 an $100k [one hundred thousand dollar] car?
That's more than the first house I bought when I got married!
I'm NOT complaining. This is America and you can spend your money on whatever you want to... but I just wanna know who these people are and what they do for a living.
They're NOT rocket scientists I don't believe.. because last I checked, rocket scientists earned only about 70k/year.

I don't know... perhaps I'll just ask the next guy I see that hops out of one.
If I do... I'll blog about it.
Promise.

4 Glorious Days

I had forgotten what a 4 day weekend will do for you.

Thanksgiving turned out to be fine.
I didn't overeat. Tempted, but I had discipline.
Friday was a wonderful day bike-riding and playing with the kids - sun up to sun down.
It's incredible how rejuvenating laughing kids are.
Saturday we purchased our Christmas tree [we always get it on Saturday after Thanksgiving].
We stuck it in a bucket in the backyard to drink... I think it helps.
We went and saw a great film too - Master and Commander. Very well done. Made me want to sail again.
Sunday after church we brought the tree in and trimmed it.
Lights on the house are up too.
I tell ya...
That was the longest funnest weekend I've had since last year.
Somehow there is something wrong with that.
:)

Turkey Day Tomorrow

I can't believe it's here.
Didn't we just gorge ourselves with turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, string beans, corn, biscuits, gravy, wine, pumpkin pie, apple pie and ice-cream?
[I'm sure I missed something]
If I recall, we all laid on the couch afterwards groaning and swearing we wouldn't do that again... and here we are... getting ready.
It's much like the lemmings in my sketch blog - The Daily Sketch.
One after another, over the cliff of self control.
We'll see!

Well, at least here will be turkey sandwiches for a few weeks!
:)

Turning Over a New Leaf

I got up this morning and re-aimed my headlights and washed my car.
Yep. It hadn't been washed in 2 years and was beginning to get moss on the north side.
[The line about a rolling stone isn't true if you park in the same place every day].

I've decided to turn over a new leaf.
I've decided to fill up the tank before the idiot light says I'm out of gas.
I've decided to change the oil before the engine overheating light comes on too.
I'm going to put brake fluid in before I roll thru an intersection and change the brake pads before that awful grinding sound starts.
I'm going to put steering fluid in while I can still turn the car with both arms and I'm going to put water in the radiator before I see steam.
I'm going to put air in the tires before I see the steel belts coming thru and I'm going to change the transmission fluid before it starts slipping out of gear.

That's it.
I've finally reached the conclusion that living on the edge of a vehicle disaster is slowly killing me.
All this started not because I had a bad dream or a bad counseling session either...
And its not one of my dormant multiple personalities just waking up.

It's because my car failed the state inspection two weeks ago and the list was quite long!!!
And I really need the car to last me another year.

I used to be better, honest... but 6 kids tend to rearrange your priorities!
:)

Homeless and Unemployed

That's right... totally homeless and totally unemployed... and totally having a great time.
I speak of my mom and step-dad.
Sound terrible?
Well, it ain't.

Instead of a home, they live on an incredible sailboat [Loup De Mer - Tayana 37']. They sailed for 4 years up and down the coast of Mexico and 2 years ago moved their boat over to the Gulf of Mexico... sailed up the coast [thru the ditch] and to the Chesapeake Bay.
I must be very careful NOT to covet their homelessness. They spend 6 months or so on the boat, then transfer to their RV for the remainder of the year!

My poor unemployed folks... they draw off the dividends from their wise investments over the years [Capt. Burk retired a very respected engineer from Proctor and Gamble].

They just yesterday, rigged the vessel for winter storage and rolled off toward good ol' Louisiana, where they'll spend Thanksgiving [my mom, the Admiral, has tons of family there], and then its off to the mountains of California for a wood-stove/snow-shovel winter in a cabin.

Capt. Burk says, "Keep working hard and putting money into Social Security" and "Retirement is TOUGH... but somebody's gotta do it!".

Forgot

[prior reading suggested - "Architect gone Mechanic" - 20nov03]

I waited patiently for my new silicone sealed gasket to cure - 24 hours.
Filled the cooling system with some good ol' green anti-freeze [50% water too - see I can learn].
Reconnected the battery - not normally part of the procedure, but if I don't disconnect my battery terminal each evening... well, it goes dead. Something to do with a 'phantom power drain'. But that's another issue.
Where was I , oh yeah... I waved good day to my wife and kids and drove off down the street... pouring green slimy coolant all the while.
For some reason I stopped at the corner to look under for leaks. ~ I hate having a habit of looking or problems with my car... but must get over it... I've done it too long now to quit.
Anyway... I barely made it back home.
Seems I FORGOT to tighten up the 2" hose that connects the water pump to the radiator.
Good grief.
REMINDER: Get a mechanic. Pay him well.

Architect gone Mechanic

Sometimes I amaze myself... but more often I don't.
Believe it or not.... I changed my car's water pump last night!
It was pouring rain so I pulled the nose of my Volvo as far as I could into the garage [which was 3' due to an over population of bikes].
I still got wet 'cause the rain was splashing off the windshield and was somehow getting around/under the raised hood.
It was dark too, but I had my trusty task light bulb-on-a-wire, which incidentally cast distracting shadows all over the place and had a mind of its own to see how often it could rotate and shine in my eyes.
I was amazed at how much of the engine I had to remove to get TO the water pump, let alone how many screws it takes to get it OFF the engine. I can't image doing this for a living... but some do.
It took me 3 hours and a quart of hand cleaner.
And here's what I learned: Get a Mechanic. Pay him well. The entire time that I was monkeying around trying to remember where I had put all the screws, bolts, nuts and misc. parts, busting my knuckles, and hoping I could remember how all this could possibly go back together.... one thought kept running thru my mind, over and over.... Mechanics don't Blog.
:)

Hydrogenation or Bust

Today's blog is dedicated to my wife who I don't believe has ever read any of these - yet.
Who knows, you may be the first and only person to ever read this too.
:)

Can't find anything processed in my frig anymore... or in the cupboard either for that matter.
My wife has recently found a new quest in life. She is single-handedly removing any processed food that has hydrogenate oils in it from our diet.
Something about trans-fatty acids.
She's got the power to do it too since I can only make toast, no wait... I can boil water for spaghetti too.
I wish I had the article she read, but apparently there is a direct connection between hydrogenated oils and cancer.
FDA will quickly deny anything I'm sure - so companies don't go out of business. But processed food is killing us all.
I know, I know... you gotta die of something.
I always thought I would die of old age, but now-a-days, there is a much greater chance that you die of cancer than anything else.
I think it's up to 1 in 3... which means you probably know someone that has cancer or has died already.
I'm not trying to scare anyone, I just think it's pretty crazy how in the past few years, sooooo much of our diet has turned to processed foods.
When I was a kid, we had a garden and mom made bread at home.
When the 'twinkie' hit the market, sure, we all got one in our Kung-Fu lunchboxes.
It's been downhill ever since.
Yeah, ya gotta die of something... but why hurry it along?!
I think the very first twinkie ever produced is still on a shelf... and looking mighty fine I might add... and probably will be for many years after we are gone. Here are some Twinkie Trials.
:)

God Bless America

I'm the Mishuns Guy at our church which means I communicate with our missionaries around the world and then communicate their needs and praises, challenges and victories to the church.
As I continue conversations from friends in 16 different countries and see how many are truly persecuted for their beliefs it makes me realize how much a privilege it is to live in AMERICA.
FREEDOM.
Freedom to believe whatever you want to.
Sure I believe that Christianity is the Truth, and here in America you can join me or not... and not have to worry about being KILLED over it.
GOD BLESS AMERICA

Bizzare Blog Culture

This is crazy.
I don't know how others do it... but I find this blogging a crazy new attachement to my life.
I find myself walking to work [it's a mile from where I park to my cell] searching the past day for signs of anything worthy.
I think about my family who may read it or misc. visitors or even friends that may not put a link on their sites if I start blogging something bogus.
I also find myself weighing my proposed input also with that of other blogs out there... and don't see any real threats.

I read one persons blog and they talked about the desert they ate for dinner... another guy is really ragging on a small island nation across the world, another can't believe his mother found out about his blog and one kid has had recent dreams of being a werewolf.

I realize it's NOT about anything that's out there... or even my contribution to the planet... and I'm NOT even looking for an answer to a question I haven't even posed yet.

It just struck me funny, that I was a review critic on a short film called "Since the last Blog".

There's an "EDIT YOUR LIFE" sign on the wall near me.

Weird.

Martix Revolutions

Finally saw it!
Personally.. I thought it was great.
There were two particular reviews that actually made me doubt.. .but only for a second.
1. Someone said to just go watch the first movie [Matrix] again and forget the other two ever happened.
2. The next review said that the best part of the entire experience was the Shrek 2 preview.
:)
As for me... I liked it a lot.

Matrix introduced a whole new thinking about what's real and what's not.
Matrix Reloaded was, I admit, mostly filler. We learned about Zion and the other ships... and don't forget the run-away program Mr. Smith.
Matrix Revolutions wrapped it all up nicely.
So there.
I say... Go enjoy it... skip Reloaded it you must... but all in all... a real good Trilogy...

What's real anyway?

Recent phone message

Hmmm... where's the beep?
There is supposed to be a "beep".
Weird.

Ducks and Trucks

I saw the second worst thing I've ever seen this morning.
I was sitting at an intersection [front car in my lane] and watched a family of ducks attempt to cross the road... right in the middle of the intersection.
But that's not what I first saw.
It started when I first pulled up and glanced around... I spotted something tiny and frantic in the intersection and pretty quickly recognized it as a tiny duckling.
Trucks and cars were wooshing over it and the tires were close every single pass.
It wandered back and forth between lanes and I keep squinting closing my eyes when cars passed, 'cause I really didn't want my eyes to witness the impact/squoosh.

Stuff like that just doesn't go away... It's permanently imprinted in your mind and plays back later in life.

Anyway... it was then that I spotted another one, coming around the end of the median... just as panic stricken. My eyes quickly flashed from one to the other, wondering which was going to get it first... then I saw the mother duck. She had some tiny frightened ducklings under her feet tripping her up as she waddled toward the edge of the road... all the while looking back at the other two...

The idiot behind me honked and I noticed it was my turn to dodge ducks, which I did and drove off toward my office with a feeling of helplessness and hope...

I did let my mind paint a pretty picture of a safe family of ducks in the hearby park quacking a soft "Thank you God" as they dusted off. Never know I guess. I like my possible ending.

I did also wonder if there were people out there just as frantic and helpless as life is maddeningly running them over.... perhaps I can possibly be of more help than I was to the ducks, as I drove by....
Something about a good samaritan comes to mind...

Soccer Tournament Weekend

Good Grief... what a long cold soccer weekend.
My kids had soccer games all Saturday and Sunday.
The wind was a bitter cold and blowing right in our faces most of the time.
On the field, the kids couldn't control the ball like they were used to.. but neither could their 'enemy'. I always call them that... and sometimes you can hear me yell, "Kick 'em in the teeth".
All the parents just look at me. :)
Two of my sons fell asleep under a nice warm blanket on the ground.
They made a little shelter and laughed and chatted for a while, and then both fell asleep... we had to wake them when the game was over.
We lost games left and right, but we had fun... and that's what I told my kids we were out here for.... that and the hot chocolate!

Sailing

Went sailing in the Elizabeth River yesterday.
I wished we had gone out into the Chesapeake Bay... but hey, as I always say...
DON'T SNIFF A GIFT FISH.
The channel was full of container ships, tugs and small craft... that that actually made it more challenging!
I got to take the helm [It's my step-dad's boat] and got mixed up a couple of times since this boat has a 'wheel' and my little sailboat has a 'tiller'.
But once I got the hang of it I could keep the sails fairly trimmed and not hit any ships.
:)

Experiments

I had this thought this morning that we were all involved in a crazy experiment.
The earth is like a gigantic petrie dish and we are all little squirmy things in a fluid... like spermies.
There is this eggie thing in the dish that we are all trying to get into... some do... don't.
Those that make it in... begin developing into incredible creatures, and they in turn get extracted out of the dish and placed into some sort of incubator for further development.
Those that don't make it into the eggie thing, just die in the dish.
Woof.

LIFE

Had a great conversation with some friends last night.
It was all about the meaning of life.
Not the movie.
We were all past whether here is a God or not... answer = IS.
The conversation was all about WHY.
Why did He make this whole crazy universe?
Answer = I DON'T KNOW.
He created a perfect world and had a perfect relationship in the Garden of Eden [with Adam and Eve].
They did something the he said not to... which we call SIN, which ruined that perfect fellowship/relationship.
Our chatting brought out some sort of conclusion about His wanting to restore his relationship with Mankind once and for all.
He sent his kid, Jesus [which incidentally is a extrememly complex form of himself] to do the work of restoration - thru a self sacrifice... but we don't seem to get all the benefits of this 'restoration' until some later date.
Weird.
Apparently, belief in Jesus and the fact that he died for us only gets us a promisary note of a greater reunion.
Call me sacreligious, but I really thought that we could have some sort of relationship HERE and NOW... not wait until later.
I'll keep looking for my FRIEND... the incredibly awesome... the One and ONLY... God.

Killer Bees!

Craziest thing happened yesterday.
My kids were playing in the woods behind our home and walked into a nest of ground wasps.
The wasps swarmed up and out of the ground and surrounded my kids with a cloud of stingers and buzzing.
Each kid [4] had at least 50 wasps crawling on them looking for a place to sting... and they found plenty places on their arms and neck!
The kids came running screaming into our home covered with wasps.
My wife had them remove their shirts and throw them outside but it was too late... wasps were in the house!
The funny thing [if there is one] was that the wasps were attracted to our torch lamp [halogen] and swarmed around it - one at a time they tried to fly into the halogen lamp and disappeared into flames and smoke [quite stinky I must add]... until they were all gone.
Crazy.
The adventures continue!

Halloween

Happy Monday.
Halloween was pretty fun.
My kids has nearly as much fun as I did.
The girls went as kitty kats, youngest son got a free costume from a neighbor [Robin of Batman and Robin]. My other two sons love Lord of the Rings and went as Aragorn and Gimli.
Aragorn was easy... but the Gimli outfit took me 5 hours to make with cardboard and a gluegun. He even had a beard and braided mustache.
Very cool.
All in all a pretty good Halloween.
Except for all the kids that were running around 'trick-or-treating' with NO costumes on.
Weird.

Priorities

Yesterday was a waste.
I find it very difficult finding time to do the things I really want to do, because I am bogged down with things I have to do.
Priorities.... who can set them?

Hope noone's looking...

Just sitting here trying to blog at work!
I know I'm supposed to be working diligently on my tasks at hand, but find blogging a type of addiction.
I will try hard NOT to get fired.
:)

Jack

The fog is thick and I can't see JACK.
How about you?