Wednesday, November 26, 2003

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!
:)

Tuesday, November 25, 2003

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!
:)

Monday, November 24, 2003

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!".

Friday, November 21, 2003

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.

Thursday, November 20, 2003

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.
:)

Tuesday, November 18, 2003

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.
:)

Monday, November 17, 2003

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

Friday, November 14, 2003

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.

Wednesday, November 12, 2003

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?

Tuesday, November 11, 2003

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...

Monday, November 10, 2003

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!

Saturday, November 08, 2003

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.
:)

Thursday, November 06, 2003

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.

Wednesday, November 05, 2003

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.

Tuesday, November 04, 2003

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!

Monday, November 03, 2003

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.