Thinking Out Loud In PA

2009-11-18T21:27:00.005-05:00

Take a Minute and Read This

2009-04-10T08:05:00.001-04:00

Please take a minute and click the link below and read the post.

And after reading it remember that every decision you make effects other people, sometimes profoundly.

Remembering the Best Friend I Ever Had

Really, dog sperm?!?!

2009-04-09T11:33:00.002-04:00

So I found this on a blog I read and just had to repost.

Yours, Mine, or Ours?
Horst Hoefinger

Here’s a custody case a judge doesn’t hear very often, a battle over the frozen sperm of a dog. That’s right, there’s a divorced couple feuding over who is entitled to the semen of their three Bullmastiffs.

Karen Scully, who lives in Florida, and her ex-husband, Anthony Scully of Oakland County, are feuding in Oakland County Circuit Court in Pontiac over who legitimately owns semen belonging to Cyrus, Regg and Romeo, all AKC-registered bullmastiffs — lovable, slobbery behemoths. Such dogs can sell for as much as $2,000 each.

The Scullys were hobby breeders in Oakland County until their divorce in 2002. When they split up, they also split up the six bullmastiffs they owned: He kept four of them and she took two with her to Florida. At issue is who gets to claim the frozen sperm, stored at a freezing center in Sterling Heights. Both still raise bullmastiffs.

Anthony Scully, through his attorney, said the semen is his, and that his ex-wife, in moving to Florida, gave up claim. Karen Scully, who appeared in court via teleconference, claimed she has ownership, since the dogs that provided the semen once belonged to her.

Family Court Judge Cheryl Matthews hasn’t ever had this type of issue come before her, and while admittedly a dog lover, told the couple this was a matter for civil court. The case has been assigned to Oakland County Circuit Judge Leo Bowman.

Price of AKC Bullmastiff: $2000
Attorney fees for custody battle: $3000
Quickie divorce online : $149
Look on Judge Leo Bowman’s face: Priceless

* Family pic of Romeo and Mr. Scully courtesy Detroit Free Press

sick

2009-04-08T08:27:00.001-04:00

yup, sick again...i really miss dayquil at this point. i know i'll be able to take it again soon, but right now i can't and it sucks. only 2 months left.....

The House You Grew Up In

2009-03-31T08:30:00.000-04:00

Last post I mentioned that I drive past my old Church everyday on the way to the bus stop. Well the corner that I get the bus is basically the same street I grew up on.

I used to drive down that road every single day.

It's weird the stuff that you feel and think when put in the situation.

After my parents divorced and then remarried my mom sold the house that I grew up in. I don't blame her, it was a 4 bedroom house with way too much space for one person. And I don't blame her new husband cause my dad built that house (literally from the ground up) and it would have to be weird to live there.

But it still sucks that she had to move. Many people get to return to the house they grew up in forever. My mom still gets to see the house she grew up in cause her parents still live there. My dad's parents only recently moved from the house where he spent many a year.

My wife gets to go back to the house where she spent many of her childhood years.

I am not mentioning all that to whine or complain that I don't but just to point out that it is somewhat common. Sure there are probably just as many (if not more) people who don't cause their parents moved but many people do.

It's just funny cause I will stand at the corner waiting for the bus and stare down the street and memories come rushing back. We used to walk that street to get to a local convenience store where we would regularly go for candy and soda during the summer. I delivered the afternoon paper on that street when I was 12. After I started driving that was the main way in and out of the neighborhood I lived in so I was driving on it just about everyday.

Actually for about 6 or so months I would drive down that road after work cause it was the easiest way to leave my parking space. I would drive down just like I had 100s of times before. I could actually see my old house in the distance and then I would turn and head home to my current house.

I have only actually driven by the house maybe a handful of times since my mom moved. I really do miss so much about it. And there really isn't one particular thing that I miss more than anything else. I would probably say the basement though if I had to pick something.

The basement was finished and was where us kids spent most of our free time. At first there was just board games and toys, then a tv and video games, then a computer, then a ping pong table and air hockey table, and then finally a pool table. There was always something to do down there and I loved it. Hell it is probably why I am finishing the basement I have now. Although I intend to use that room for myself (for now) I am sure my kids will take over in the coming years.

I have not eliminated the idea of moving at some point in the next 10-15 years. I would like more space and some other ammenities that aren't currently provided. But the boss (also known as my wife) feels that we should stay because of our children. She wants to be in the same house forever so that our kids can come back to the house as they grow.

And the more I think about it the more I agree. I think that is something that I would absolutely provide for my kids. Cause like I said before....I wish I had that myself.

What do you think? Do you get to go back to the house you grew up in? Would you miss it if you couldn't? If you can't, do you wish you could?

The Post Where I Talk About Religion and Church

2009-03-24T08:39:00.004-04:00

The headline brought you in....didn't it?

I went to private Catholic school from kindergarten through 12th grade. Actually I had the choice to attend private or public school for high school but most of my friends were going to private school so I figured why not. And honestly private school wasn't too bad. The worst part of it was the uniforms but they were pretty relaxed on that for the guys when I was there and all the girls had to wear skirts, so there wasn't too much of a downside for me.

Religion was, of course, a requirement. And it wasn't terrible. I only remember 2 things from my religion classes and both came during my junior year of high school.

1. Our school didn't have air conditioning but there were ceiling fans, which during warm months were always on. Well we got a kid who was sitting underneath the fan to through a banana up into the fan and of course it pretty much exploded over everyone sitting under the fan. The best part of that is the teacher didn't believe the kid when he confessed.

He stood up and said he did it and the teacher (honest to god) said "No you didn't Bradley, sit down." I couldn't believe it. She blamed it on Rob, who was what one might call a class clown or trouble maker. Honestly, she didn't believe anyone for a solid couple of days and then finally accepted that Brad must have done it since the WHOLE CLASS told her.

2. The other story is about cheating. Yes that's right I cheated.....in religion class. Shhhh....don't tell anyone, okay?

Tests were all taken on scan-tron sheets and were typically handed back (and gone over) in the same class. Well a group in first period would write down all the answers and it would make its rounds. I had religion in the afternoon and would get the answers during history class in 4th period.

But I was smart enough to never ace the tests. I always made sure to make 3-4 questions wrong on purpose so it wasn't obvious. Well it worked out for me. The ring was broken up and anyone who had a majority of the answers right over the few tests was questioned, including yours truly. And you know what saved me? Yup, making a few answers wrong kept me from getting into trouble.

But anyways, I am getting away from the main part of this story. Religion and Church.

My family went to Church with some regularity. It was never every week but probably closer to every other week. It was always nice when my parents would go out on Saturday night. If they didn't get home before midnight we knew we weren't going to church and I hated church.

As a family we stopped going to church when we stopped being a complete family. Actually we had started going less and less and then my parents got divorced. That happened when I was 18 and I have only been inside a church once since then, for a friends wedding.

So I haven't been to Church in almost 10 years and honestly I don't miss it at all. Church never really served a purpose for me. I went but I never felt anything or got anything out of it.

For the past year I have driven by old Church every morning on my way to the bus stop. And from time to time I think about going back. But not because I miss the religious side of it. More cause I miss the togetherness of it maybe. I mean I have so many memories of being in that church whether with family or with classmates.

I remember sitting in the entrance way a couple Christmas Eve's cause the building was so crowded. I remember crawling around under the pews during practices for special masses the students were a part of.

But I think mostly I miss going to breakfast after church. We would always go to Church with my grandparents and then afterwards we would go out for a nice Sunday brunch. I loved that. Although I am sure I loved it more now than I loved it when it was happening but still it was always nice.

Either way I am now what many would call agnostic. I do not believe in what most religions preach but at the same time I am not 100% sure they aren't right. Which is why I am not an atheist. I have no problem with anyone believing what they want but I would love to debate the myths of religion with you.

Anyways the point of this post was really more a reflection of a time when Church and Religion were important to me and my family. Although to me it was never about the Religious or Faith part and more the family and friends part.

Oh and yes that is the actual church I attended at the top of the post.

Is there anything from your youth that you miss?

WARNING! Do not leave small children unattended with dogs

2009-03-13T08:25:00.006-04:00

My husband forwarded this to me this morning and I just had to post it.

Please read!!! If you are an owner of a dog that belongs to a 'dangerous breed' category and you also have a small child please take this as a warning. Don't leave your dog with the child unattended under any circumstances. Only a little moment was enough for the following to happen. See the photo attached .....

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

and remember:

Busy Busy Busy

2009-03-11T09:02:00.003-04:00

I have been very busy lately and obviously haven't posted in a while. If it wasn't for the wife there wouldn't have been any posts up here since WOW February 5th. (I just looked to see the last time I posted).

Lots has happened in the past month so I will give you all a small update on what has been happening.

Last you heard from me much of the discussion was the stupid job crap that was going on. And really none of that has changed. But other things have been added or are going to be added that has made me pretty busy.

Let's start with the current job.

Our office is changing in the next few months and in May the entire office is moving its physical location. And there are some of us that will be separated and will no longer work together. That doesn't really matter much to me since I will be staying in pretty much the same position but part of a bigger group.

Right now there are about 10 of us in my section and that will probably turn into like 50 or something like that by the end of May.

Unfortunately the move is not going to help my career as far as stability or income which sucks. But what are you gonna do. There are worse things in life I guess.

Now let's move on to my job prospects.

I recently applied to be a IRS Agent and so far everything has gone well and I should be getting an interview in the coming weeks/months. I aced the assessment test and am listed in the top of the applicants for the position. The advantage here is that this area is considered hard to fill and could come with a nice signing bonus. Which would be helpful to me.

I am not certain I would take the position but more than likely I would. It wouldn't require much (if any) travel, which I hate right now, and it would be more secure and would pay more. I am excited about that and just hope that I actually get an interview.

Now onto my extra curricular activities.

I took a part time (20 hours a week) with a Internet start up company called netSpray.com. It is an online selling site that is getting started up and if you want you can come check it out. It is free to buy and sell items on the site so if you like to sell on eBay this site will be cheaper.

Basically I am doing a 12 week training course on Internet marketing while spreading their name across the web and doing some networking. After the 12 weeks (which ends in May) there is a chance that I could be kept on permanently to do Internet marketing, blog writing, and article writing. So I am pretty excited about that.

And it is a paid position so it really helps me make my bills.

More extra stuff.

I also am going to be writing for a local community newspaper starting with their June issue. I could have started sooner but with the netSpray stuff I didn't want to get too much on my plate. I will contributing to the sports section of the paper doing interviews and stories with and about local sports personalities.

That I am really excited about and can't wait to get started. It also pays a little per article so that works too.

So as you can see I have been pretty busy over the past month and that is the main reason why this site is not updated to much. On top of the stuff mentioned above I have my other 2 sites Hershey Bears Hockey and Jumping Offsides that I have been writing regularly on. And just this past weekend Verb and I started hbgsports.com to discuss local sports teams and news in the area.

I hope to continue writing here from time to time but it will not be with too much frequency. Hopefully anyone who still reads this keeps coming back and reading.

Sick

2009-03-02T15:21:00.003-05:00

So I'm bored and tired of being sick. Our daughter was sick for about 2 weeks with a sinus infection/headcold. The hubby's been feeling off too, however, they can take medicine. I'm pregnant (23 weeks) and can't take much of anything. Plain old tylenol is it, to be exact. Which isn't getting me anywhere but annoyed, so I thought I'd type something to distract myself for a small while. Hope everyone out there is healthly. Oh and if anyone is wondering, I'd rather be pregnant then be able to take meds, but it's really annoying to keep up with a home, almost 8 yr old, 2 cats, and 2 pups without meds....blah....

Obese or Overweight, which is it?

2009-02-05T09:32:00.002-05:00

You hear ALL THE TIME about how obesity is running rampant across the world and in the United States mainly.

You get stats like over 33% of American adults are obese. And 16% of children too.

And those stats are incorrect. BUT you have to understand the definition of obese.

Obesity is measured by calculating your body mass index (bmi) which is figured out by putting your weight and height into a couple boxes and spits out your bmi.

Now there are multiple problems with this.

First, it doesn't differentiate between men and women. And we all now that men and women are not created equal when it comes to body style and size. A 5'8" woman who weighs 140 lbs is fine BUT most guys that are 5'8" are probably closer to 170 lbs and they would be classified as overweight EVEN though neither looks overweight.

Second, even people of the same sex are built differently. Some people (like myself) have broad shoulders and can carry more weight without being too out of shape. While others who are the same height don't have the shoulder width.

Myself and one of my good friends are like that. We are both about 6'3" but my ideal weight is probably around 220 (I am not there by the way) while his is probably 195-200 because he doesn't have the overall mass to his body.

And the final HUGE problem with calculating your bmi is that is DOES NOT take muscle mass into effect. So if you are a decently built human being with good muscle definition you might be overweight.

FOR EXAMPLE:: Troy Polamalu (image below) is 207 lbs and 5'10". Which if calculating his bmi means he is ALMOST obese. Actually if he puts on 3 pounds he would be TECHNICALLY obese. Now does this man look obesed to you?

No he doesn't.

Another example:

LaDainian Tomlinson is a running back for the Chargers for any of you that didn't know. He is 5'10" 221lbs. And he is obese!!

Seriously this is all fact. Go to this site to check your bmi and it gives you the ranges for different levels.

Honestly if you are concerned with getting into shape or just want to know if you could do more than use your body fat percentage.

This will actually take into account your age, sex, and body style. For guys you have to measure your waist, hips, wrist, and forearm. For all the ladies out there you measure your hips, calf, thigh, and waist.

Go to this site to check your body fat percentage. And go here to see what a healthy level of body fat is.

And the next time you hear about the obesity rates in this country remember that Troy Polamalu is only 3 pounds from being obese and LaDainian Tomlinson is obese.

Well That Kinda Sucks

2009-02-04T14:39:00.003-05:00

Last week I bitched and moaned about the state of my job. And this week it kinda got worse.

Yesterday afternoon I learned that the promotion/raise I was up for probably isn't going to happen. Now let me add that I was the ONLY person in the office up for the position. So unless they really don't like me I was going to get it.

BUT now they are saying it might not happen at all. And if it doesn't it could be a YEAR before I get a raise.

Now the reason that sucks is that I barely make enough to live on right now. The wife works a few hours a week cleaning on office and makes $550 a month. And I make enough to live on but probably just barely. (I am currently in the process of determining if we make enough).

She could obviously work more but there are a few problems with that:

No experience in an office setting so she is going to have a REALLY hard time getting a good job
She is 4 months pregnant and will have to take multiple weeks off within 5 months of getting a job
NO ONE IS HIRING ANYTHING RIGHT NOW!!

So I was very frustrated last night as I might have to get a part time job working in a warehouse or at a convenience store or something just to get by for the time being.

I am still working on the Real Estate license that I talked about last summer but it is turning out to be harder than I originally thought it would be.

And on top of that I need like 2 grand just to get my license and everything else I need AFTER I pass the tests!

So that sucks.

Basically I was counting on this raise/promotion. I understand that I am not guaranteed anything but being that I do a good job and that I was the ONLY one up for it I figured I would get it.

And now.....maybe not for a whole freaking year!

I F'in HATE the economy right now!

How about you!?

For Some Reason it Bothers Me

2009-02-03T15:12:00.002-05:00

How was everyone's weekend? Mine was long. I was off on Friday and then yesterday was traveling for work but luckily got to start a little late and actually finished up early so it was almost like a day off.

Did you watch the Super Bowl? I did. The game was good which it has been lately but I thought the commercials were MUCH IMPROVED over the past few years. I can remember watching the game the past couple years and not being too impressed with the ads. But this year I thought it was much better.

My favorite adds were the Doritos (snow globe), Bud Light (thrown out of window), and both of the E-Trade commercials although they came at the end and after the game. For some reason I absolutely love all the talking baby E-Trade commercials. No matter how many times I see them I laugh.

Shank-opotamus!!! Awesome!

Anyways....

Thursday of last week I was at a training class for Excel. I use Excel from time to time and even though I can do everything that is required of me now I thought that I might get some use out of learning more so I signed up to.

But the class wasn't as interesting as one thing that happened early in the day.

The idiot in front of me (probably in his late 40s or 50s) was sending and receiving emails with people all day long. No big deal...I was surfing the web and emailing too.

But my emails did not involve making plans to cheat on my wife. His did. I have gone through most of the possible scenarios in my head and am almost certain that he was doing just that. He was making plans with a woman with a different last name and everything seemed very secretive. And then he immediately deleted the emails from his account.

Suspicious...that's all.

There is local FM radio show host that recently got divorced and another national radio host I listen to that got divorced in the past 12 months.

They bother me now. For some reason since I learned that they are divorced they bother me. It isn't the fact they got divorced but more that they brag about being single now. And both of them had just recently had babies.

I understand that sometimes things don't work out. My wife and I have had some problems but we made it through. That is one thing. But to brag about being divorced on the air. That is unacceptable in my book.

I think that is mainly why I am bothered. It isn't the divorce that bothers me. That happens. But for them to talk about it and seem happy about it just doesn't make sense.

Obviously I don't have all the details on what happened. But I don't think you should be on the air (whether national or local) talking about your relationship status and bragging.

My Interview

2009-01-28T06:30:00.001-05:00

I saw this originally over a brran1's place The Black Lounge a couple weeks ago. So I commented and he sent me some questions to answer. Sorry but I would have had it up sooner but I am lazy and forgot about it for a couple days. But, better late then never...right???

1. If you want to participate, leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.”
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

1. If you were guaranteed lifelong financial stability in your dream career, would you leave your current job? What is your dream career?

In a heartbeat I would leave. I would leave tomorrow...okay I would give 2 weeks notice but no more than that. To be able to do something in my chosen field would be an absolute dream and I would consider the job even if financial stability wasn't guaranteed. My dream career would be something in the sports world (radio, tv, writer). [In fact if you head over to Jumping Offsides you can view the sports blog I have with Verb and listen to our podcast.]

2.If you could move anywhere in the world, where would you move and why?

I would probably move to New York. I won't ever do that but hypothetically I would. Reason: It is the greatest city in the world and so much happens there. Also I have always lived in suburbia and while I love it I think it would have been interesting to live in decent sized city for a while.

3. What bad habit do you NOT intend on giving up?

Bad habits....hmmm. I don't really no what constitutes a bad habit. I really don't do anything that I consider to be a bad habit. My wife would surely give something here as I am constantly pestering her but I don't think think it is bad...I enjoy it. Most of the other bad habits I have (lazy procrastinator, eating too much, talking on phone while driving) I don't really have a problem giving up....in fact I am trying to on some of them.

4.Which one would you rather have: Wealth or Notoriety?

Wealth. Notoriety brings more problems than it is worth. Although if you aren't wealthy it won't matter if you are notorious because no one will care anyway. And at the same time if you are notorious you are probably wealthy. For instance I would love to win the lottery but I don't want anyone to know that I won it.

5. If you had to walk away from Blogland, would you be able to do it?

Yes. Honestly I am not that attached to it. I enjoy writing and I would absolutely miss it but I could absolutely give it up if needed. The only thing in this world that I wouldn't be able to give up is my family and friends. Everything else is just stuff and can be replaced. And anyone that I meet by blogging can still be my friend outside of Blogland.

Anyone that wants interviewed by me just say "interview me" in the comments.

Breed Specific Bans

2009-01-26T08:04:00.009-05:00

Okay, I don't normally do an actual posting, but I am so tired of people wanting certain dog breeds banned. One article I read this morning was about Pit Bulls (again.) A 12 year old girl was bit in the face by a Pit. Here's my problem with it, the dog was fenced in, but the girl put her head over the fence, for what reason...it was never mentioned, and the dog bit her. Duh...most breeds would do that or try to. All dogs are territorial. Maybe the fence was right against the sidewalk, or maybe the fence wasn't tall enough. Either way thats not the dog's fault, the owners should have placed a taller fence if its right along side the sidewalk, and the girl and/or her mother (who was with her) should have some common sense not to put their head over a fence.

The last statement of the article really bothers me too. "That particular breed is problematic. They were bred to go into the pit and fight," she said. "It's like a little time bomb waiting to go off." NO THEY WERE NOT!!! People need to learn about breeds before they open their mouths. I have never owned a Pit Bull, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to look up basic information on the internet. "The American Pit Bull Terrier's many talents did not go unnoticed by farmers and ranchers who used their APBTs for protection, as catch dogs for semi-wild cattle and hogs, to hunt, to drive livestock, and as family companions." Also, most people do not seem to know that their are different breeds of Pit Bulls, with the American Pit Bull Terrier the only one with the words "pit" and "bull" in its name.

Just because they are bad owners, doesn't mean the dogs are born "evil." There are bad parents too, but do we label the children "evil" and try to eliminate them?!?! No!!! We go after the parents.

My husband and I have owned 2 "bully breed" dogs so far; a Chinese Shar Pei and (the current babies) two Siberian Huskies. And I have news for you, so far our two house cats are more likely to hiss, spit, and scratch you then any of the dogs we have had.

What to do.....

2009-01-22T13:34:00.002-05:00

If you have a job than I would imagine you have considered being laid off or fired during this recession.

It seems like every company around the country is hurting financially and looking to make cuts.

Hell, Microsoft announced recently that they are laying off 5,000 employees!

I would think that a company as successful as Microsoft would be able to avoid having to lay off almost 5% of its workforce but that isn't the case.

Talk has started around my job of potential layoffs or a cut in hours to save money. Either way I would be in trouble. Right now I barely make enough money as is to live where I do and how I do. And come June/July when the baby is born it is going to get even tougher obviously.

I was set to get a promotion and raise within the next month but now that is up in the air too. Which presents more problems because I have been counting on this raise for the past year.

So I have been looking for a new job so that I can make enough money to live and survive.

But the problem with that is do I take something if it comes along?

I mean if I leave my current employer and go to a new company I will be the low man on the totem poll and (more than likely) the first to get laid off if that time comes.

Do I sit by and wait to see what happens at my current job and hope for the best? I am probably not on the chopping block as far as getting laid off but could get my hours cut by as much as 20%.

Or do I just gamble and take a job that is offered to me?

I obviously wouldn't take a job that didn't offer at least the same as what I am getting now but still.

I hesitate to take any job even if it pays more than my current position because I don't want to get caught in a numbers game after starting at the new company and find myself laid off.

If I start a new job and within a few months they decide to lay people off you know who is going first....the most recent hires.

Which would be me!

It's just frustrating not knowing what to do. I have an interview tomorrow with a national company about a position in their corporate office. I hope it goes well but at the same time I don't know what I would do if they offer me a position.

If the position is for the same pay and similar benefits that I have now is it worth leaving considering the risk it brings?

I don't know.

Amazing

2009-01-20T12:28:00.002-05:00

What a difference between the two.

President Bush couldn't speak publicly with any real meaning or emotion. He couldn't find the words or the tone to show how he truly felt.

President Obama could get just about anybody to stand up and support him. Every word was believable. You want as much as anything to believe that he will do what he says he will do.

Listening to his speech today gave me chills. I was proud of this country that we were able to look past the color of his skin and instead looked at the content of his character.

In my opinion this is the type of President that we need right now. Someone who brings people together no matter their walk of life. Someone who brings new faith to the position. Someone who is strong enough to carry the weight of this country and its imperfections on his shoulders. And someone who can get the people of this country to believe in each other and focus on the whole instead of the individual.

He is what we need right now....a common man who can't get through the swearing in without a slip up or two. Someone who isn't perfect and doesn't try to be.

He isn't perfect nor does he try to be. He is human. And that is what we need right now.

I don't know.....you tell me

2009-01-13T09:22:00.002-05:00

Friday night a group of us went to a hockey game in Hershey. The special part of this game was that it was dollar dog night.

That's right hot dogs for a dollar!

Really...that isn't that great of a deal. I can go to the store and buy a pack of hot dogs and rolls for under 5 bucks. BUT when you are going to a sporting event and a soft pretzel is over $3 a dollar dog is special.

Previously Verb and I had gone to a dollar dog night at a game earlier this year. The bet then was that he couldn't eat 6 hot dogs. Actually we set the over/under at 5.5 hot dogs.

He ate 6. I was impressed.

So Friday night there was me, wifey, Verb, my sister J, her bf R, Skittles, and some girl he was dating last weekend.

(to those that have been reading this using of initials or letters for people is new but it will continue. it is easier than giving nicknames to people)

But anyways back to the story.

My sister can eat a pretty good amount and loves hot dogs. Her bf is a good sized guy that is currently training to be a MMA fighter and he can eat a lot.

*a little background.....J and Verb dated for a couple months*

We saw J prior to the game and she made a comment about Verb's 6 hot dogs at a previous game that went something like this "oh I can eat more than that."

And so it was on. Basically it ended up being me and Verb vs J and R (even though he didn't know he was competing til he got to the game).

Honestly they won but officially it ended in a tie 19-19.

Yes that is correct we ate 38 hot dogs between the 4 of us. R won with 12, I had 11, Verb had 8, and J had 7.

The reason they won though is because R also ate like 2 boxes of popcorn! The guy just seems un-fillable when it comes to food.

The people sitting in front of us were worried of Verb doing this again and creating a disgusting situation. But for the most part everyone around us enjoyed it and had a good time with it. Even the usher was funny as she multiple times asked Verb if he needed to use a trash bag!

But the funniest part of the night was while Verb and I were out getting hot dogs during the 2nd intermission.

Apparently Skittles date (who was SUPPOSEDLY a hockey fan) leaned over to him and asked OUT LOUD.....

"Is the ICE cold?"

Exposaroonie - Submissions: Best of 2008

2009-01-11T10:22:00.003-05:00

Its been awhile since there's been a new challenge. But here is one of my favorite pictures from 2008. This is a pic of our pups when we first bought them home. They're now like 5 times this size. The one on the left is Ash and the little girl on the right is Simi. Yes, they are Siberian Huskies and they are litter mates. Go here to vote.....hopefully for me!?!?!

Looking our for #1

2009-01-08T09:45:00.002-05:00

You always here people say and sometimes complain that people only look our for themselves. The phrase "looking out for #1" is everywhere all the time.

If you are watching sports, news, a sitcom, or really any television show you are possibly going to hear the phrase or something very close to it.

And some people will tell you that that is a bad thing. That the problem with our culture and society right now is that everyone is basically selfish and no one cares about anyone else.

They might be right.

But I will say this. You can't be loyal to an employer anymore cause they aren't loyal to you.

It used to be you would find a job with a company and then work your way up the food chain within that company and retire with that company.

Now people are changing jobs every year or couple of years after they get a little experience doing something.

There are multiple reasons for that but I think a big one is that everyone knows a corporation is NOT looking out for your best interests and will NOT consider you when they sell the company or change owners.

Very rarely do people even get a single boss that really cares about their well-being. Most bosses are doing the same thing you are....trying to get ahead. Looking forward to the next raise and promotion.

That is why people don't stay with one company anymore. It isn't because people don't care or wouldn't like to stay with one company. I would like to (if I found a job where I like what I am doing anyway) but most companies now promote from outside the company. If you are looking to move into management you will probably have to change companies a couple times.

But it also has to do with the greed of people too. We all want wants best for us. And there is nothing wrong with that. But remember that loyalty and respect go both ways.

If you respect someone else they are more likely to respect you in return. And (in theory) if you are loyal to a company for years they are more likely to be loyal to you in return.

To Survive....Find a Vampire

2009-01-06T08:18:00.003-05:00

I don't know if any of you watch the History channel or not but this week is Armageddon week. All they are showing at night are shows about the end of the world and how it is going to happen.

So I happen to enjoy this kind of thing cause it is interesting. I am not looking forward to the end of the world and very much doubt I would be around for it. But it isn't something I am scared of cause there isn't anything I can do about it.

I was flipping between one show on History channel (I can't remember the name) and the Fiesta Bowl. But I managed to learn a couple things from watching the show which was basically looking at the Book of Revelations in the Bible and using that to explain how the world is going to end.

Here is what I learned:

1. Religious (in this case mostly Christian) people are delusional and crazy
2. Vampires are going to rule the world!

Seriously.

Let's look at the first one.

These people honest to god believe that their "God" is going to end life on this planet as we know it cause a few bad people don't stop doing stupid things. Really? This is your idea of "God"?

So what you are saying is that instead of lets say Osama Bin Laden dropping dead from a heart attack or I don't know leading us to his hideout "God" is going to kill everyone on the planet. Wow. That's a pretty bleak outlook and a pretty intense idea of vengeance you people have.

And that's what they were saying (minus the Bin Laden reference). They were saying that because the "anti-christ" is here and not behaving that "God" was going to take matters into his own hands and punish ALL OF US!

And you wonder why I don't believe in Christianity anymore.....

Now let's look at the 2nd thing I learned....Vampires will rule the world.

Many of the theories put forth by these religious idiots have the sun either being destroyed or being blocked out from the earth. Which would lead to total darkness. Hmmm....Vampires can't be in sunlight.

And then they threw out this clincher in my eyes....all of the water on earth is going to turn to blood. Yes that is right....all the oceans, rivers, lakes, streams, creeks, ponds, and puddles are all going to magically turn from water to blood. Hmmm....Vampires live on blood.

You see! If you want to survive the Apocalypse it is simple....go find this guy and convince him to bite you and turn you into a vampire. That way when the Earth is sun-less and all the water is blood you too can live on.

Until Next Year

2008-12-29T09:47:00.002-05:00

Christmas always comes and goes too damn fast. To me the season isn't over until the New Year but with having to work today, tomorrow, and Wednesday it doesn't feel the same.

Next year I think I will take off the week after Christmas. Christmas falls on a Friday next year so I think I will take off the Monday-Thursday the following week. That will make it much better.

But it was a good Christmas. I didn't really want anything since money is the only thing that would really do me any good and for the most part I only got money. So I am happy.

My parents, like most anymore, are divorced. Which makes for fun times and lots of attitude around the holidays.

We spend Thanksgiving with my dad's side at my grandparents house. Then we spend Christmas Eve with wifey's grandmother. Christmas day (and dinner/lunch) at my Mom's and her Mom and step Dad come to our house Christmas night.

Then the attitude's begin. My dad gives me shit and my grandparents on his side give me shit because we don't see them ON CHRISTMAS!! We went over on Saturday to see both of them and they were fine but a little complaining is always on the menu.

But all that is over now and that is good. I will be at my grandparents (dad's side) for New Years day dinner so they can just get over themselves.

Perhaps the best dinner of the week though was at my house on Friday night. For the past 4 (I think) years we have had a dinner around Christmas with some friends. We make a Turkey with all the good stuff....mashed potatoes, stuffing, a couple veggies. And everyone just has a good time.

This year was no exception.

A couple of the guys that come are friends that now live in Baltimore and Philly. I have known these two guys since I was in kindergarten and don't get to see them too much. So getting to see them at Christmas is cool. Another friend that sometimes comes lives in Florida now and didn't make it home this year.

But it was fun and I am looking forward to next year when we get to do everything all over again.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-24T07:00:00.000-05:00

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas. If you are traveling please be safe and take your time...it is better to get there late than not at all.

Wow....2 posts in one day

2008-12-23T13:21:00.002-05:00

Hell I barely post 2 times a week let alone 2 times in one day but here you go....consider it a Christmas present.

I saw this story and thought I would share it. You can find the article here but I am going to put the whole thing below for you to read.

Life of Reilly

There are some games where cheering for the other side feels better than winning.

by Rick Reilly

Gainesville State players douse head coach Mark Williams in celebration.

They played the oddest game in high school football history last month down in Grapevine, Texas.

It was Grapevine Faith vs. Gainesville State School and everything about it was upside down. For instance, when Gainesville came out to take the field, the Faith fans made a 40-yard spirit line for them to run through.

Did you hear that? The other team's fans?

They even made a banner for players to crash through at the end. It said, "Go Tornadoes!" Which is also weird, because Faith is the Lions.

It was rivers running uphill and cats petting dogs. More than 200 Faith fans sat on the Gainesville side and kept cheering the Gainesville players on—by name.

"I never in my life thought I'd hear people cheering for us to hit their kids," recalls Gainesville's QB and middle linebacker, Isaiah. "I wouldn't expect another parent to tell somebody to hit their kids. But they wanted us to!"

And even though Faith walloped them 33-14, the Gainesville kids were so happy that after the game they gave head coach Mark Williams a sideline squirt-bottle shower like he'd just won state. Gotta be the first Gatorade bath in history for an 0-9 coach.

But then you saw the 12 uniformed officers escorting the 14 Gainesville players off the field and two and two started to make four. They lined the players up in groups of five—handcuffs ready in their back pockets—and marched them to the team bus. That's because Gainesville is a maximum-security correctional facility 75 miles north of Dallas. Every game it plays is on the road.

This all started when Faith's head coach, Kris Hogan, wanted to do something kind for the Gainesville team. Faith had never played Gainesville, but he already knew the score. After all, Faith was 7-2 going into the game, Gainesville 0-8 with 2 TDs all year. Faith has 70 kids, 11 coaches, the latest equipment and involved parents. Gainesville has a lot of kids with convictions for drugs, assault and robbery—many of whose families had disowned them—wearing seven-year-old shoulder pads and ancient helmets.

So Hogan had this idea. What if half of our fans—for one night only—cheered for the other team? He sent out an email asking the Faithful to do just that. "Here's the message I want you to send:" Hogan wrote. "You are just as valuable as any other person on planet Earth."

Some people were naturally confused. One Faith player walked into Hogan's office and asked, "Coach, why are we doing this?"

And Hogan said, "Imagine if you didn't have a home life. Imagine if everybody had pretty much given up on you. Now imagine what it would mean for hundreds of people to suddenly believe in you."

Next thing you know, the Gainesville Tornadoes were turning around on their bench to see something they never had before. Hundreds of fans. And actual cheerleaders!

"I thought maybe they were confused," said Alex, a Gainesville lineman (only first names are released by the prison). "They started yelling 'DEE-fense!' when their team had the ball. I said, 'What? Why they cheerin' for us?'"

It was a strange experience for boys who most people cross the street to avoid. "We can tell people are a little afraid of us when we come to the games," says Gerald, a lineman who will wind up doing more than three years. "You can see it in their eyes. They're lookin' at us like we're criminals. But these people, they were yellin' for us! By our names!"

Maybe it figures that Gainesville played better than it had all season, scoring the game's last two touchdowns. Of course, this might be because Hogan put his third-string nose guard at safety and his third-string cornerback at defensive end. Still.

After the game, both teams gathered in the middle of the field to pray and that's when Isaiah surprised everybody by asking to lead. "We had no idea what the kid was going to say," remembers Coach Hogan. But Isaiah said this: "Lord, I don't know how this happened, so I don't know how to say thank You, but I never would've known there was so many people in the world that cared about us."

And it was a good thing everybody's heads were bowed because they might've seen Hogan wiping away tears.

As the Tornadoes walked back to their bus under guard, they each were handed a bag for the ride home—a burger, some fries, a soda, some candy, a Bible and an encouraging letter from a Faith player.

The Gainesville coach saw Hogan, grabbed him hard by the shoulders and said, "You'll never know what your people did for these kids tonight. You'll never, ever know."

And as the bus pulled away, all the Gainesville players crammed to one side and pressed their hands to the window, staring at these people they'd never met before, watching their waves and smiles disappearing into the night.

Anyway, with the economy six feet under and Christmas running on about three and a half reindeer, it's nice to know that one of the best presents you can give is still absolutely free.

Hope.

I thought that was a good story to share around Christmas. Hope you enjoyed it.

Death by Food

2008-12-23T07:00:00.000-05:00

Have all of you seen the new Burger King commercials? The Whopper virgin ones?

If you haven't seen it go here and watch the video.

They went to Thailand, Greenland, and Romania to find people that had never had a burger to find people to do a taste test between a Big Mac and a Whopper.

Now I have a couple problems with this...

1. These people have never eaten anything like this. No offense to Burger King or McDonalds but these items are not exactly healthy. All the crap that they put into the meat and stuff is probably going to make some of these people very sick. And that isn't right.

2. What difference does it make what these people think? Are they going to buy the sandwiches? Are they going to influence me? Hell no. So why put them through it. Do a taste test with people that might actually buy your product.

But these people did agree to eat it so it is also on them. But considering some of these people had NO IDEA what they were eating do you think they would have eaten it if they knew how it was produced?

I am not so sure.

But either way it doesn't matter. If I had to pick one I would say the double Whopper.

Why?

Because if I am going to try and clog my arteries I might as do it right....with more meat and less bread.

Different....

2008-12-22T07:00:00.000-05:00

I love Christmas time but this year it seems different. I think actually working has something to do with that.

See the past two Decembers haven't really been filled with work.

2 years ago I was doing the final jobs for my dad's construction company before they sold the development we were working in. Which only kept me busy for like 10 hours a week for a couple weeks.

At the same time my dad and I were starting a new construction company and were in negotiations for a piece of land. We also started my house at that time.

But none of those things kept me very busy. I think most of the month that year I was working about 10-15 hours a week.

Last year after the HOUSING COLLAPSE I was basically not working at all. I would go to the developments that our company had started and were working in on most mornings but since there was really NOTHING to do since NOTHING was selling. So I would go home after about 1-2 hours a day.

Now this was really nice since I got to be home and enjoy the decorations and my family's company but it sucked not getting paid.

Prior to that I worked for 4 years for my dad's company and would usually work from 7-3 each day so at least I was home by 330.

Now I am working from 745-415 but with travel time I am really gone from the house from 7-5. And that sucks.

But for some reason I think it is affecting my Christmas joy. There isn't as much time to just stop and relax when I don't have something going on.

I really do miss the time off but you know what I don't miss.....not getting paid.

UN-FREAKING-REAL

2008-12-17T08:55:00.002-05:00

The wife sent me another interesting article this morning.

This one has to do with what a couple named their child a few years ago.

Heath and Deborah Campbell, of Easton, PA, named their 3 year old son Adolf Hitler Campbell.

Yes....SERIOUSLY....but wait it gets better.....

This is making the news BECAUSE a grocery store REFUSED TO PUT HIS NAME ON A CAKE for his birthday.

Apparently this isn't the first time something like that happened. They had previously asked for a cake maker to put a SWASTIKA on a cake.

Now I know that symbol wasn't originally a sign of hatred. But it is now.

But wait.....the story gets better....

The couple has two other children. Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell will be 1 in April. AND JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell will be 2 in a few months.

Those poor children...could you imagine having those names? I would change mine the first chance I got!

Now for the kicker....

The father Heath Campbell says this about the name...."no one else in the world would have that name." He sounded surprised by all the controversy the dispute had generated.

WOW!!!!

Now think about these things for a second....

Do you think this kid has ANY CHANCE at public office??

Could you imagine your kid saying he was going to Adolf Hitler's house to play video games?

Someone will be saying this one day....my boss's name is Adolf Hitler!!

Staying Cool at the Beach

2008-12-16T15:04:00.002-05:00

This article was sent to me by the wife today and I just had to share it with you.

Apparently there are people with SO MUCH MONEY in Dubai that they are going to refrigerate the beach.

Yes thats right....they are going to (and I quote):

"suck the heat out of the sand to keep it cool enough to lie on"

And what do potential environmentalists think about this....probably nothing,

“Dubai is like a bubble world where the things that are worrying the rest of the world, like climate change, are simply ignored so that people can continue their destructive lifestyles.”

Sounds like my kind of place!!

Tough Crowd

2008-12-15T07:00:00.001-05:00

I have always been interested in the weather and am generally interested to know what it is going to be like in my area each day. I can usually look at the weather maps on TV and give a decent forecast based on what I see.

But there is no way in hell I would be a weatherman. Those guys get abused by everyone.

Think about it....most people get on their case as soon as it rains or snows a little bit more than it is supposed to. Or god forbid they forecast the day as sunny and a few clouds show up to block the sun for part of the day.

The other day I was listening to Colin Cowherd on ESPN radio and he went off on a tangent about how weathermen have the easiest jobs because they get paid to be right half the time.

Really? Half the time is the best they do?

And he said something to the effect of "if I made that many mistakes I would be fired." Really? Fired for making a mistake once in a while. I would be willing to be that he makes a mistake DAILY on the air by pronouncing something wrong.....but yet he is still working there. Hmmm.

I would be willing to be that 90% of the time.....the weatherman are dead on.

You can go months without hearing anything about them and then all of a sudden they say snow but instead it rains and people freak out. Or maybe they give a 50% chance of rain and it rains all day....oh no what am I going to do now. I didn't think it was going to rain. Well why the hell not....you knew the possibility existed.

The only times they make mistakes are the only times you hear about them.

It is probably one of the most thankless jobs in the world. No one gives you ANY CREDIT when you are right....they only blame you when you are wrong.

So I would like to say thank you to my local weathermen for telling me what the weather is going to be like most days. I appreciate knowing that it is going to rain today so that I can bring an umbrella with me to work.

Inspirational....

2008-12-10T13:59:00.002-05:00

I am a big college basketball fan. And it just so happens that I am a Villanova fan and they were playing last night in the Jimmy V Classic in New York. Before the game they played Jim Valvano's ESPY's speech from 1993 in it's entirety.

I have seen it many times before but each and every time it moves me.

At halftime of the game last night between Villanova and Texas Dick Vitale spoke on ESPN and at Madison Square Garden about the V Foundation. I wanted to find that video for you because it was great but I can't find it anywhere online right now. If I find it in the future I will post it on here.

Jim Valvano was awarded the Arthur Ashe for Courage Award on March 4, 1993. He died on April 28, 1993.

Since its inception the V Foundation has raised over 80 MILLION dollars with EVERY CENT going to cancer research.

Check out these links for more information:

ESPN-Jimmy V week....videos and other stuff
V Foundation website
More information on Jim Valvano

Back to Work....

2008-12-01T19:23:00.002-05:00

Back on the road this week. I am a little north of Pittsburgh, PA until Thursday morning.

But anyways....

How was everyones Thanksgiving and weekend?

Mine was pretty good, thanks for asking.

Although at dinner on Turkey day there were about 6 or 7 too many people. We had a table of 20 people plus 3 babies in the house. That is a few too many people.

I was at one end of the table and couldn't hear what was going on halfway down the table.

But the food was wonderful and there was plenty of it. Even with 20 people there were leftovers to take home.

Friday I decorated my house with Christmas lights and went and got the tree. And believe it or not the dogs still haven't knocked it over!!

Although they did eat part of an ornament.

And now I am in Pittsburgh, or more accurately about 20 mins or so north of Pittsburgh, for business.

I am not a fan of this travel stuff so no offense to anyone from this area but I would rather be at home.

But after this I don't have to travel again for work until at least the middle of January and maybe longer.

In February I am putting in for a transfer to a position that doesn't travel at all. That way I can spend all my time in the Harrisburg region of PA instead of all over the state.

And that would make me happy!

Get Me OUT of HERE!

2008-11-26T12:45:00.002-05:00

I have 3.5 hours left in my day.

It is dragging on and on and on

and

ON!

I just want to be able to leave so I can get ready for Turkey Day tomorrow. And that is why today is dragging so freaking much.

Not only that I have noticed the blogging world is a little light today. Apparently a lot of you out there are off today and traveling.

If I had to travel I would probably be off today as well.

DAMN....I wish I would have been traveling!!

So Many Ideas.....

2008-11-24T14:16:00.002-05:00

So little motivation.

I have lots of ideas for posts but don't really feel like writing any of them right now. But I will....eventually.

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday. As far as a single day of the year goes, Turkey Day tops them all in my book.

First of all I love Turkey and everything else that goes with it.

Second, my cousins and family from Indiana used to (and sometimes still) come in for the weekend.

Third, I love watching football with family and falling asleep during the games.

And Fourth, now that I own my own house I decorate for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving and get the Christmas Tree that day too.

Why so soon?

Because Christmas is my absolute favorite season and time of the year.

While Thanksgiving is my favorite holiDAY, Christmas is my favorite holiday SEASON.

I love everything about it and always have. There were a couple of years in there when I was an older teenager or for the first couple years after my daughter was born that I didn't really enjoy it as much.

But now that Kiddo is 7 it is soooo much fun to watch her open presents on Christmas morning.

And watching her get excited anytime a Christmas special comes on TV is great too. I enjoy watching the specials as well but she loves all of them and will watch any of them.

And that makes the season incredible to me.

I love the Christmas decorations people put up....as long as they go up AFTER Thanksgiving.

I love Christmas music and movies.

My netflix account will be filled with Christmas movies for the next few weeks even though I probably won't watch many of them.

Christmas season for me lasts from Thanksgiving through New Years Day. And this year it will continue through the first weekend in January since New Years is on a Thursday and I am off on Friday the 2nd.

But first is Thanksgiving and a plate that looks something like this:

My favorite day of the entire year.

Yup....Pretty Much

2008-11-17T13:48:00.004-05:00

I have nothing for you today...read this instead. Oh and I got this from Verb.

~THE BASICS~

Name- greg

Birthplace- harrisburg, pa

Current Location- near harrisburg, pa

Eye Color- blue/green

Hair Color- brown

Glasses or contacts- none - 20/20 vision

Piercing or tattoos- none...used to have ears pierced

Single or taken- taken

Right Handed or Left Handed- Right Handed

Any pets- 2 dogs, 2 cats

~FAVORITES~

Favorite color- blue

Favorite flower- whatever kind the wife likes

Favorite college basketball team- Villanova

Favorite holiday- Thanksgiving

Your favorite pizza toppings- pepperoni

Favorite alcoholic drink of choice- don't drink often enough to have one

Your favorite lunch meat- bologna

Favorite non-sexual thing to do with a girl/guy- there is anything else?

Favorite place to eat a romantic dinner- don't really have one

Favorite season- Fall

Your favorite food- pizza

Favorite Ice cream flavor- cookie dough

Favorite subject(s) in school- math & history

Favorite candy- snickers

Favorite breakfast cereal- frosted flakes/fruity pebbles/honey nut cheerios/oh's

Favorite person in your life- wifey and kiddo

Your favorite park- Disney World, Epcot to be more specific

Favorite place to be- home

Your favorite sport to watch on TV- football

Favorite TV show (Still running or ended)- how i met your mother, the big bang theory

Your Favorite number- 27

Your favorite letter(s) of the alphabet- M

Favorite names for a son- gavin

What about favorite names for a daughter- arianna

~WHICH DO YOU PREFER~

Chocolate or Vanilla- chocolate

Alcoholic or non- Non

Long relationships or one night stand- Long

Scary movies or comedies- comedies

Short or long hair- long

Croutons or bacon bits- croutons

Beach or lake- beach

Single or Group Dates- group

McDonalds or Burger King- Wendy's but mcdonald's if I have to choose 1

Pepsi or Coke- coke

Starbucks or elsewhere- NO COFFEE

Dogs or cats- dogs

~DO YOU'S~

Do you smoke- Never

Do you sing- always

Do you want to get married- already am

Do you believe in yourself- always

Do you get along with your parents- yes

Do you go to church- Nope

Do you want children- already have and I want more

Do you drink- very rarely...almost never

Do you like to travel by plane- sure

Do you still watch cartoons on Saturday morning- nope

Do you have a teddy bear- Nope

Do you like thunderstorms- Yup

Do you play an instrument- nope, want to though (guitar/drums)

~HAVE YOU EVER~

Have you ever fired a gun- nope and I never plan to

Have you ever loved someone- yup

Have you ever been caught doing something you weren't supposed to- yup

Have you ever cried for no reason- nope, I feel like there is always a reason

Have you ever cut your own hair- nope

Have you ever skipped school- yup, all the time in college and once or twice in high school

Have you ever bungee jumped- Nope, seems a little like suicide to me

Have you ever punched someone- yup

Have you ever been arrested- nope

Have you ever broken into someone's house- nope

Have you ever participated in a crime without getting caught- petty stuff as a kid

~SOMETHING A LITTLE MORE MATURE~

List your top fear - losing family

What bill do you hate paying the most- the wife pays em

What did you want to be when you were growing up- my own boss

What errand/chore do you despise- cleaning the garage

What do you get every time you go into a Wal-Mart- i avoid walmart at ALL COSTS

What are your views on marriage- a beautiful thing that many people take for granted and others give up on to easily

If you could get away with it, who would you kill- no one...I wouldn't be able to forgive myself

What famous person (dead 0r alive) would you like to have dinner with- jeremy roenick, donovan mcnabb, mike huckabee

How do you want to die- in my sleep before I get so old that I don't know who anyone is

At this point in life, Would you rather start a new career or relationship- career

Number of drugs you have taken- few and nothing illegal

Your most missed memory- the house I grew up in or trips to the beach with family

What are your first thoughts upon waking up- ugh, do I have to

What goal would you like to achieve this year- start a new career in real estate

Who would you like to see right now- no one that isn't around

Are you still friends with your ex's- nope

What books are you reading (if any)- books by nicholas sparks, just finished A Perfect Day by Richard Paul Evans, Everyman by Philip Roth

What are your regrets- my business, not yours

~SOME RANDOM QUESTIONS~

What do you want when you are sick- nothing

What radio station is your car radio tuned to right now- 105.7 the x (listen here)

Strangest place you have ever brushed your teeth- huh?

What country would you most like to visit- USA, I have only seen a few places

How many pillows do you sleep with- 2

Let Me Clarify

2008-11-14T11:10:00.002-05:00

I have realized over the past couple days that my definition for regret is probably different from others.

Some people may think of regret and think that it means something you would change if you could. Or something that you wish you had done or would do differently.

To me regret is partially that.

Like I said in the post, I have many regrets but I WOULDN'T change anything that happened in my life because I like where my life is.

And there are some serious things that happened in my life and in my relationships.

But while I would love to have NEVER done some things I would never change them because I wouldn't want to risk losing what I have now.

And some people consider regret to only be big things. Like I regret killing that guy or I regret robbing that bank.

Which is good. You should regret those things.

But to me regret is everything you....well....regret.

There have been things in the past few years that I have regretted buying. Mainly cause I would LOVE to have that money now. I regret getting into credit card debt on MULTIPLE occasions.

But I still wouldn't change most of it. Sure if I would go back and not buy something and have that 100 bucks or so I would but only if it wasn't going to affect my life now.

I just wanted to clear that up.

I understand that everyone looks at words or ideas and sees different things.

I did not mean that everyone has something in their life they would change or take back. Because I don't have that.

And trust me....I have done or not done things that have DRASTICALLY changed my life.

But I like where my life is and wouldn't change a minute of it.....but I still have regrets.

Some that I think about everyday.

Regret

2008-11-12T08:27:00.003-05:00

There are many people out there that claim they have no regrets in their lives.

To those people I say this....

I don't believe you.

Now maybe you don't regret the big things in your life but EVERYONE has a regret or two. Even if it is as simple as a grade you got in high school cause you didn't do what you were supposed to.

How can you not have 1 regret?

Sure you can accept what happened and not think about it. But that doesn't mean you don't regret it.

There are many things in my life that I would say I regret.

From things that have happened in relationships to things I did growing up. There are lots of things that I regret doing or regret not doing.

But the real question is would I change anything if I could?

Probably not. Because, like Verb, I believe that you are a sum of your experiences. The things you have done or not done in life have shaped and molded you into who you are today.

So changing one thing in your past could in theory change everything that happened after that.

So I would not change anything because I am happy with my life and would not like to risk it by changing something in the past.

But that doesn't mean I don't have any regrets!

Historical

2008-11-05T07:49:00.004-05:00

Last night.......

was....

HISTORIC!!

But that was last night.

Now, as a NATION, we have to come together and support our new President.

Even if you voted for McCain you should support the President. I have defended Bush on numerous occasions even though I didn't vote for him either time.

It isn't about who the President is or who you wanted the President to be.

It is about the United States of America.

And to the the world...the President IS the United States of America.

And as a country we must support the President.

GO VOTE TODAY!

2008-11-04T08:22:00.002-05:00

I hope you all did your research ON ALL THE CANDIDATES. Not just the Presidential ones.

Today is the day to vote! And if you did your research and know who you are voting for...go vote.

If not than you shouldn't go. If you don't know who is running or what they stand for or anything about them.....DON'T VOTE!

I would rather have all the people that don't know what they are talking about just stay home and let the people that took the time to learn something elect our public officials.

I was with my family last night and found out that neither of my sisters or my sister's husband are intending to vote today.

That's a shame. Especially since my one sister really knows what she is talking about. The other one doesn't want to be bothered by going and voicing her opinion.

I just don't understand.....

Get Informed

2008-10-31T08:23:00.005-04:00

Don't forget that on Tuesday you are not only voting for the President but for many other candidates in many other races.

You should know who they are and what they stand for.

The people you elect for your local and state government have just as much if not more influence over your daily life and you should be electing people you want in office.

Here is a website that will give you some basics on candidates as well as what your ballot will look like.

www.smartvoter.org

Go to the site and look at the information there. And then search the Internet for the candidates home pages and read more about them.

Get informed so that you can make the right choices.

The Sack Lunches

2008-10-28T06:00:00.004-04:00

I got this in an email the other morning and thought I would share with everyone:

I put my carry-on in the luggage compartment and sat down in my assigned seat. It was going to be a long flight. 'I'm glad I have a good book to read. Perhaps I will get a short nap,' I thought.

Just before take-off, a line of soldiers came down the aisle and filled all the vacant seats, totally surrounding me. I decided to start a conversation. 'Where are you headed?' I asked the soldier seated nearest to me.

Chicago - to Great Lakes Base. We'll be there for two weeks for special training, and then we're being deployed to Iraq.

After flying for about an hour, an announcement was made that sack lunches were available for five dollars. It would be several hours before we reached Chicago , and I quickly decided a lunch would help pass the time.

As I reached for my wallet, I overheard soldier ask his buddy if he planned to buy lunch. 'No, that seems like a lot of money for just a sack lunch. Probably wouldn't be worth five bucks. I'll wait till we get to Chicago

I looked ar ound at the other soldiers. None were buying lunch. I walked to the back of the plane and handed the flight attendant a fifty dollar bill. 'Take a lunch to all those soldiers.' She grabbed my arms and squeezed tightly. Her eyes wet with tears, she thanked me. 'My son was a soldier in Iraq ; it's almost like you are doing it for him.'

Picking up ten sacks, she headed up the aisle to where the soldiers were seated. She stopped at my seat and asked, 'Which do you like best - beef or chicken?'

'Chicken,' I replied, wondering why she asked. She turned and went to the front of plane, returning a minute later with a dinner plate from first class. 'This is your thanks.'

After we finished eating, I went again to the back of the plane, heading for the rest room. A man stopped me. 'I saw what you did. I want to be part of it. Here, take this.' He handed me twenty-five dollars.

Soon after I returned to my seat, I saw the Flight Captain coming down the aisle, looking at the aisle numbers as he walked, I hoped he was not looking for me, but noticed he was looking at the numbers only on my side of the plane. When he got to my row he stopped, smiled, held out his hand, an said, 'I want to shake your hand.'

Quickly unfastening my seatbelt I stood and took the Captain's hand. With a booming voice he said, 'I was a soldier and I was a military pilot. Once, someone bought me a lunch. It was an act of kindness I never forgot.' I was embarrassed when applause was heard from all of the passengers.

Later I walked to the front of the plane so I could stretch my legs. A man who was seated about six rows in front of me reached out his hand, wanting to shake mine. He left another twenty-five dollars in my palm.

When we landed in Chicago I gathered my belongings and started to deplane. Waiting just inside the airplane door was a man who stopped me, put something in my shirt pocket, turned, and walked away without saying a word. Another twenty-five dollars!

Upon entering the terminal, I saw the soldiers gathering for their trip to the base. I walked over to them and handed them seventy-five dollars. 'It will take you some time to reach the base. It will be about time for a sandwich. God Bless You.'

Ten young men left that flight feeling the love and respect of their fellow travelers. As I walked briskly to my car, I whispered a prayer for their safe return. These soldiers were giving their all for our country. I could only give them a couple of meals.

It seemed so little...

A veteran is someone who, at one point in his life wrote a blank check Made payable to 'The United States of America ' for an amount of 'up to and including my life.' That is Honor, and there are way too many people in This country who no longer understand it.

edit: Apparently there may be some confusion as this DID not happen to me and I did NOT do this. It was part of an email that was sent to me and I liked the story. And also I apologize for the font/color issue that made the post unreadable....I think I fixed it now.

A Good Weekend

2008-10-27T08:47:00.000-04:00

I haven't done a weekend update post in a while and I don't intend to start doing them again. But for today I will do one.

I was out of town Thursday into Friday and didn't get home until middle of the afternoon on Friday.

I did some minor yard work Friday afternoon before heading to the soccer field for kiddo's makeup game from earlier in the season.

Saturday was supposed to be the last game of the season but the soaking rain that went through PA meant NO soccer.

But it did mean WET PUPPIES! And unfortunately......MUDDY PUPPIES!

They realized that it is easier to dig in mud than it is dry dirt. GREAT!

But then the real meaning to this past Saturday started......

Penn State @ Ohio State!!

If the Lions could win this game than they are on track for their first undefeated season since 1994 and possibly their first National Championship since 1986.

I was PUMPED!

Some friends came by to keep me calm and whatnot which actually did work. I wasn't too hyper and managed to not get too tense during the game.

But it didn't matter at the end!

PSU 13 OSU 6

AWESOME!!

And after that the weekend got busy again.

I woke up Sunday morning to......a mess in the dog crate.....and a mess on the dogs.

One of them had gotten ill in the crate overnight and there was stuff all over the crate and all
over the dogs.

So after all that cleaning and whatnot we went to a hockey game last night in Hershey, PA.

That was a good game to be at (we won 8-3) but the more interesting thing happened around the 2nd intermission.

Wifey and Kiddo went to the bathroom and when they got back there was a story to be told.

A little pre story.....kiddo wanted to bring her Nintendo DS to the game in case she got bored....I said no.

Apparently she didn't like that answer. She had stuffed her DS into her pants before we left the house and managed to sit in the car, walk to the arena, eat her dinner, sit for 2 periods (almost 2 hours), and get to the bathroom without having problems.

And she still didn't have any problems. Apparently the bathroom was so crowded that Wifey went into the stall with her just to get out of everyone's way. And then it was discovered.

I was so impressed that I allowed her to have the DS after the came back.

I would like to think that I would have been smart enough to do the same thing when I was 7!

And now I am here at work to begin yet another week....Yippee!!! (sarcasm intended)

all about ME

2008-10-23T08:00:00.001-04:00

A - Age: 27

B - Band listening to right now: Today it was Aerosmith, yesterday Staind, Last week it was Lincoln Park, Breaking Benjamin, and Stage.

C - Career future: Hopefully I will be a Real Estate agent next year.

D - Dad’s name: if you really want to know...email me.

E - Easiest person to talk to: wifey

F - Favorite type of shoe: sandals

G – Grapes or Grapefruit: Grapes

H – Hometown: suburbs of Harrisburg, PA

I – Instrumental talent: I wish. I would love to play the drums or guitar but don't have the patience to learn.

J – Juice of choice: Apple rasberry or orange juice

K – Koala Bear or Panda Bear: HERSHEY BEARS!! ahl hockey team

L - Longest car ride ever: probably South Bend, Indiana. It was like 10-11 hours or something to see my cousins soccer game.

M – Middle name: it starts with an A....wanna know?....email me

N - Number of jobs you’ve had: 12

O- OCD traits: alphabetized cds and dvds

P - Phobia[s]: snakes, spiders, heights (falling)

Q - Quote:

Scotty
It's very rare that you can jump right into what you are passionate about. More often than not you take steps to get there. Take some steps, just remember that sometimes you have to take a step to the left or right to move in the direction thats right for you.

R - Reason to smile: family, friends, football, hockey, sports in general, movies, music

S - Song you sang last: I sing all the time....I am terrible at it (so they say) but I sing anyway. Probably this morning...Dream On by Aerosmith

T - Time you wake up: M-F ~~~ 6:00 am.....Sat/Sun ~~~ no later than 8:00 am.

U - Unknown fact about me: my favorite color is blue

V - Vegetable you hate: most of em.... I only eat corn, broccoli, and potatoes (questionable veggie)

W - Worst habit: Lazyness and eating late at night. I love to snack and do so at night even though i shouldn't. I am rarely motivated to do work when i am home...or at work for that matter.

X - X-rays you’ve had: foot, ankle, hand, back

Y - Yummiest food my belly likes: pizza

Z - Zodiac sign: taurus

Positive Test

2008-10-20T14:00:00.001-04:00

She took the test this morning...

And it was POSITIVE!!

And then she took a 2nd test....

And it was positive too!!

And yes we were trying!!

Company Killer

2008-10-20T08:00:00.000-04:00

If you don't like your company and you want it to begin to struggle or worse fail, just get me a job there.

Seriously, any company I work for seems to fall on hard times at some point in the near future.

Let's recap my work history and you will understand why.

First example:

My third job (first two were paper boy and something else small) was at a sporting goods store called Shenk & Tittle. I started in October and everything was fine....except that the mall we were located was damn near useless. The only people that came into the mall were old people so that they could walk around and get their exercise.

By May of the following year that store was closed.

I started and within 7 months the store was empty and I was looking for a new job.
Second example:

The next real full time job I had was at Rite Aid. If you haven't heard of it Rite Aid is a national drug store chain. Before I started the stock had been pretty high, like 50 or something. And while part of that was because of the executives cooking the books they were still getting away with it when I started.

Within a few weeks of starting at my store the companies stock price fell down to like 1 dollar or something like that.

Third example:

Another sporting goods store called Kelly's which specialized in shoes and sports clothing. I worked there from November to February one year. A nice store in a good mall that seemed to be doing okay.

With a couple months of me leaving the store was closed and everyone was out of a job.

Fourth example:

After that I went to work for my fathers construction company. I actually worked there for 4 years and while I technically didn't do any real harm to his company, it isn't around anymore. We were building around 25 houses a year, which is a lot for a small company like his, and everything was good. Except that his partner wanted out.

After 4 years of working there my dad and his partner sold the land they still owned and ended their company.

Fifth example:

After that my dad and I became partners in a new construction company. I thought it was the beginning of my future. I had seen how much money he had made and was fine with doing that for a living. We managed to build a few houses and even got a couple sold. And then.....

The housing market completely fell apart. Within 8 months of us starting the business the market was pretty much dead and didn't seem to be coming back. We managed to sell a couple more houses but I have since left and moved on.

Sixth example:

I am currently at this place of employment so it isn't all bad for them. But it isn't all peaches either. I work for the biggest employer in my local area and they usually hire numerous people each year.

Not anymore. Within 6 months of me starting here......there is a hiring freeze for the foreseeable future.

See what I am saying. That is 6 different occasions of me showing up and the business going downhill.

I guess I better put this on my resume so that future employers know what they are in for!

Lucky Dog

2008-10-14T08:43:00.004-04:00

I must say that I am a lucky man.

Why you ask.

I will tell you obviously.

I watch football every weekend. And I don't mean that I only watch my favorite teams and don't really care about anything else.

That is what most people would do.

Or a lot of people watch only college on Saturday OR pro on Sunday.

But that isn't me either.

I watch about 25 hours of football EVERY weekend. Some weeks it is even more than that.

I watch games from Thursday through Monday and will watch games if they are on Tuesday and Wednesday as well.

This past weekend I watched about 24 hours worth of football.

And I LOVE IT!!! I watch every game I can no matter what teams are playing.

But why am I lucky?

Because my beautiful wife tolerates it and me all weekend.

She doesn't HATE football but she doesn't enjoy watching it much.

And by the end of the second weekend of the season she is tired of it and doesn't care if another football game comes on the tv ever.

But she doesn't complain or bitch or holler at me for watching it.

She doesn't give me a list of stuff to do each weekend so that I can't watch what I want.

She doesn't take over the tv or bitch until I change the channel.

And I appreciate it greatly.

I don't golf, I don't hunt, I don't fish, I don't go to bars and get drunk with friends. I watch sports.....mainly football.

And she handles it wonderfully.

Not only that but she is beautiful and tolerates all of my other short comings (and believe me I have many).

She is pretty much perfect in my eyes.

Thank you honey,

I love you

Tired

2008-10-08T13:30:00.003-04:00

Is anyone else tired of the election crap?

I love the topic and think that it is very important but come on.

I watched part of the debate last night and I didn't hear anything new.

And that is the problem.

The candidates are saying the same thing in each debate. Or they are just repeating things that they say in tv commercials. Obama started a comment yesterday about McCain's insurance plan the EXACT same way as the commercial does. WORD FOR WORD!

What's the point?

I am all for debates on the topic and would love to debate just about anyone on the topic but these candidates have pretty much said what they intend to say.

They aren't coming up with anything new and probably won't before the election.

I also watched CNNs recap of the debate.

And they pretty much feel that if the election were tomorrow Obama would destroy McCain.

And there isn't much in this world that makes me happier than that.

I really am afraid of what this country will become under McCain/Palin.

Am I 100% confident with Obama/Biden?

No but why would I be. There are surely things about their policies and opinions that I don't like.

But I definitely like them better than the McCain camp.

Looking for Perfection

2008-10-06T12:42:00.002-04:00

4 years ago the only thing I ever heard leading up to the election was that they didn't like either candidate so they were going to vote for Bush since he was safer than Kerry.

Basically people were choosing the lesser of two evils they said.

I hate that!

And now I am hearing it again this year.

Why?

Are people really expecting to find a candidate that has the same opinions and stances as them?

Because that person isn't out there!

Everyone lives their life the way they want to. Which means that everyone has different life experiences that shape who they are.

So unless you were attached to someone your views are probably going to be different than then person next to you right now.

I personally like BOTH of these candidates more than the Bush/Kerry election from 4 years ago.

Do McCain or Obama agree with everything I think?

Hell No!

Does that mean I can't like one of them to be in office?

I don't think so.

I understand if you would rather of seen a different candidate in the running. I wanted to see Mike Huckabee. I think he would have been perfect for the position would be great for the country but unfortunately he didn't have enough money.

So my #1 choice isn't involved. Big Deal!

So I look at the 2 that are left and I listen to them talk and I research them both and I find one that I can and will support.

What is so hard about that?

Why do people have to continuously say things like I don't like either candidate so I will take him because he is safer. Or I will take the lesser of two evils.

What? Why?

Vote for the candidate that YOU feel will be the BEST President of this great country!

This Bugged Me

2008-10-01T14:48:00.004-04:00

Let's talk about something other than politics on here for a minute or two.

Last week I witnessed an act on my bus that I find to be ignorant and unacceptable.

On my bus just about everyday there is a young man who is more challenged than the rest of us.

He rides the bus just about every morning and everyone knows who he is.

And he sits in the SAME seat everyday.

The seat he sits in and the one across from him have signs above them that say they are reserved for older people or people with handicaps if they are requested.

Well he was waiting with other regular bus riders at the stop in the afternoon one day last week.

And he was in the back of line.

But all the people that were getting on KNEW exactly who he is and where he usually sits.

Now if it was me I would NOT have taken his seat because I know he likes to sit there and seems much more comfortable there....in fact when I get on in the morning and he isn't in that seat he moves to it AS SOON AS THE PERSON MOVES!

So I know he is comfortable there and likes to sit there.

But did this other idiot think about that when he got on the bus?

Nope!

A daily rider of that bus sat down in that seat before he got on. And the other seat reserved was taken by someone not disabled and not old.

Did they get up and move?

Nope!

Now I understand that the seats are only reserved if they are requested by the riders....

BUT

if you know that HE is going to sit THERE....

DON'T SIT THERE!

Sorry....but I find that to be common courtesy.

Something that is sadly disappearing in this country!

The End of the World?

2008-09-29T12:35:00.003-04:00

yes this is a long post....but you really should read it....please

I didn't watch the entire debate Friday night, just the last 30 minutes or so.

In that 30 minutes they mainly talked about foreign policy and how they would proceed with other countries like Iran, Russia, and North Korea.

Which to me is the most important part of a President's policy.

Why?

Because the President only has full control of one thing.....the military.

Think about it.....

Everything else like tax cuts, insurance, education, and policy making has to be at the very least approved by the Congress.

And most of the time Congress handles everything that is associated with any of those things.

Which is why people say that politicians lie all the time. Because they don't follow through on campaign promises.

Well they can't follow through because they DON'T have final say.

Every one gets a vote and things are amended and eliminated and added to bills and policies in order to get important things passed.

But the military.....well only ONE person controls them......

The President.

So when you look at everything else the candidates are talking about realize that none of it is going to happen the way they say it will.

Obama promises tax cuts and says he will get health insurance for every American......he intends to do those things but more than likely he won't be able to. Maybe he achieves them to a certain degree but not the way he is telling you now.

But look at what they are saying about our troops and how they will handle talks with other countries.

That is the one area where they are telling the truth and they will do what they want.

Here is a slight breakdown of what I got out of their foreign policy debate:

McCain is not going to relax his strong opinions and plans of force. He WILL keep our troops in Iraq for as long as it takes. He is willing to ignore some other areas of concern to finish the job in Iraq. Because he says that Iraq is key to the situation.

And honestly I kind of agree with him. If we pull out of Iraq it is likely that Iran or some other country that we don't agree with (pretty much all of them there) will come in and take over and turn into a huge power.

The area I don't agree with McCain on is his stance with talks and negotiations. He refuses to sit with a country like North Korea or Iran until that country does something for us like disband their nuclear programs.

Why? I don't understand.

This to me sounds like something from the Cold War. We aren't going to negotiate with you unless you do something for us.

But they don't want to negotiate or talk with us.....so why would they do something for us.

I agree with Obama that you have to some sort of preparation and initial talks with these countries but you don't need to make a hard stance and say we won't work with you until you work with us first.

But it is a tough call on which candidate presents more of a danger in my eyes....

Obama will (more than likely) pull out of Iraq as soon as possible. Not right away but there will be a schedule. But he will talk more with other countries.

McCain will NOT pull out of Iraq until the job is done. But he won't talk to other countries.

Typically, and in the past, McCain's stance could work. Because we were, and still kind of are, the strongest nation in the world. And we could pretty much bully people around.

But that was when we had everyone on our side....like France, Spain, and any other country there with any power.

But now that we have ignored the diplomatic route these countries aren't backing us.

They have no problem supporting us if we have REASON to be aggressive but we typically can't show a good reason lately.

If McCain gets elected this will continue to be a problem.

I said this to my mom the other day after arguing with her about why McCain is going to ruin this country (yes I have made up my mind on who to vote for)....

It is said that the world is possibly going to come to the end on December 21, 2012 and I said that if McCain is elected.....

.....I may start to believe it!

Another One

2008-09-25T15:08:00.002-04:00

The following is an excerpt from a post by Carl Newman of Warrior Poet. To read his entire post click here.

"John McCain is a fine man. And a good manager. Sometimes I feel like he’s running to be America’s grandfather, and I’m embarrassed to think about his policy reversals. But like I said, he’s a good manager. He’s fundamentally running a campaign of reaction, he displays no clear vision of the future. Of course, the future is terrifying, and so people are drawn to him because they think he can handle whatever comes his way, even if he presents no real understanding of what’s coming.

George Bush, by the way, is also a manager. He’s a profoundly bad one, but fundamentally, his leadership style is one of reacting to the environment (just incorrectly).

Barack Obama is not a manager. He is clearly capable of management, his primary candidacy demonstrated that. But he is not a reactionary. He is a leader. He presents a vision of the future (commonly mocked by Republican pundits), and his campaign is one of looking forward to create change (commonly parodied by everyone: Hopechange cocktail, anyone?).

A manager keeps you stable when things are changing. A leader accepts that things are changing and moves you towards stability. It’s a fundamental difference in the assumptions that each candidate has on the role of a president."

I really couldn't agree with his post more.

Obama will make a great President because of his leadership skills.

You don't have to have a ton of experience to be great at something. All you have to have is the backing of supportive people and the confidence to do it.

If he is elected he will bring this country together like never before!

Please check out Carl's post. This is just a bit but it says what I think so I wanted to include it.

Fear Reading

2008-09-24T14:18:00.003-04:00

I have been reading a lot lately. Some fiction and some non-fiction.

But I just picked up a book that I bought the summer of 2000.

It's a very interesting book that you should all pick up and at least skim through.

The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things, by Barry Glassner.

It is pretty much about the facts behind the media's scare tactics.

For instance when you hear about how many people have this or how many times this happens, aren't you curious where they get their numbers?

Glassner basically looks into all of that and tells you about it.

He looks at different things that scare us and than makes reasonable explanations.

Here is an example:

"In 1996, Bob Garfield, a magazine writer, reviewed articles about serious diseases published over the course of a year in the Washington Post, The New York Times, and USA Today. He learned that, in addition to 59 million Americans with heart disease, 53 million with migraines, 25 million with osteoporosis, 16 million with obesity, and 3 million with cancer, many Americans suffer from more obscure ailments such as temporomandibular joint disorders (10 million) and brain injuries (2 million). Adding up the estimates, Garfield determined that 543 million Americans are seriously sick - a shocking number in a nation of 266 million inhabitants. Either as a society we are doomed, or someone is seriously double-dipping, he suggested."

Ridiculous. I bet you never even really thought about the figures you read in newspapers and hear on the news.

All you think about is how bad it sounds.

But you don't consider anything behind it.

Another example:

"Studies of the general population - both men and women - find that large numbers of people who believe they have symptoms of cancer delay going to a doctor, often for several months. When asked why, they report they are terrified about the pain and financial ruin cancer can cause as well as poor prospects for a cure. The irony of course is that early treatment can prevent precisely those horrors they most fear."

People are so sure of their information that they ignore common sense.

Instead of just getting up and going to the doctor they delay because there is no way anything can get better so why go.

Isn't that ridiculous?

I just picked up the book this morning and started reading it again and I read both of those parts today.

The rest of the book should be just as good.

It's something that this country needs to realize....there isn't as much to be afraid of as people think!

Whew

2008-09-22T14:10:00.002-04:00

I have noticed that fewer and fewer people are checking out my nice little blog here and am curious as to why.

Is it the political posts?

Is it the lack of posts?

Do people just not like me?

Okay it isn't the last one because I think it is obvious that everyone likes me so it must be one of the first two.

To challenge the first one I won't say anything. I may still post about politics but it isn't a burning desire to do right now so you can come back if that is keeping you away.

The second one is a little harder. I started a new blog/website with Verb called Jumping Offsides. It is all about sports which I love. It also includes a podcast (episode 1 is up, check it out) which takes a lot of time. And if you have noticed I have already posted MANY posts over there.

But I am going to try to post a few times a week here too. Last week I was out of town from Tuesday through Friday so I wasn't available to post much and when I was the new sports site took priority.

I am going to try to stay on a schedule over here but I am not going to divulge my thoughts until I try it for a while because I don't want to let anyone down.

Other than that everything is good here.

The puppies are getting bigger and getting better at listening and whatnot.

I haven't really done much else other than watch football and read for a while now so I hope you are all doing well and while I may not post, I do still read!

In fact my google reader is over 300 and I am slowly catching up.

Come Check It Out

2008-09-15T14:21:00.004-04:00

If you are interested in sports at all than you should really come check out my new blog.

Verb and I have started our own blog and will be posting daily about things going on in the sports world.

And soon we will be conducting podcasts and putting them up on the page.

So please come by and check us out.

www.jumpingoffsides.com

self promotion

2008-09-11T12:22:00.002-04:00

How do all of you feel about self promotion?

By this I mean how do you feel about proudly sharing your achievements with EVERYONE in the office?

My co-worker recently passed a test to get some letters put after his name.

I am sure it wasn't easy and I am sure he worked and studied really hard to do it.

But when he came in this morning (his first in the office this since he received his passing score) he went around to EVERYONE and told each person that he passed his test.

Now personally I would never do this.

I might go and tell one or two people and then I would let the normal conversation and gossip carry it to everyone else.

But actually I don't think I would tell anyone unless someone asked me about it.

I am not saying I am right or anything but that is what I would do. But I also know that I am a very private person and don't want to have a conversation with anyone about my personal life or accomplishments.

But it does bother me when someone comes around and flaunts their achievements.

And then he sends out an email to more parts of the office telling everyone that he passed. And asking if anyone wanted to go CELEBRATE HIS ACCOMPLISHMENT next week.

Now maybe it is just me but I don't want to have to throw myself a party. But I can see why he would do this.

Now like I said I am not saying that I am right on this. Maybe most of you would do the same thing.

But it does bother me.

Just a Figurehead!

2008-09-08T12:52:00.004-04:00

I tried to be as unbiased as possible in the post and (believe it or not) have not decided who I am going to vote for yet. Although I am leaning one way. After writing the post I am even more confident in my (potential) choice than before. I truly feel that this is true:

In my personal opinion the office of President of the USA is little more than a figurehead position.

Meaning they don't make decisions based on their own history, experience, or thoughts. But they take advice from a panel of advisers and then make a decision. Basically they get all the credit for great decisions and all the blame if something goes wrong.

I personally feel that the key to the office is the people they put around themselves. And then it comes down to how well they take advice and how stuck in their ways they are.

All of the candidates promise multiple things like tax cuts, health care, or education.

But what everyone has to remember is that they can't do any of those things without Congress.

Everything they are proposing has to be agreed upon by so many people that it will never happen.

What will end up happening is that no matter what is promised it will be watered down and will barely make an impact when it is finally accepted and made official.

On top of that, all Presidents have a bunch of advisers for everything they need to know. There are speech writers/advisers, combat advisers, scheduling advisers, and everything else.

So the real key to a successful President is one that is open-minded (as much as politician's can be) and one that chooses the right people around them.

And I am not referring to the VP position because that is even more useless than the President position and is really only there in case something happens to the President.

The best Presidents take the information that they are given from their advisers and take the interest of the American people and decide on the best course of action.

This is the reason why I don't blame Bush for the war in Iraq. I am pretty sure that everyone in his circle wanted to go into Iraq and get Saddam out of there. So he took every one's opinion and decided that they all couldn't be wrong. But they were!

And I think any President would have done the same thing unless they refuse to fight in which case they shouldn't be in office.

Even most of the American people wanted Bush to respond with military action. And yes maybe a lot of us didn't think Iraq was the right way to go but we didn't have access to the reports and information that was being given to Bush and his staff.

But Bush isn't a very open-minded President in my opinion. I think he has a plan in his head and he is following it completely. He is not straying from it and won't.

I think the first George Bush and Bill Clinton were much more open-minded and weren't set in their ways or ideas.

But this year I think we have a candidate that is perfect for doing what he needs to do. And that is Obama.

I think he will always listen to his advisers BECAUSE of his lack of experience. Where as McCain is very stubborn and stuck in his way. Just look at how he is handling the Iraq war issue! He will not waver in his theory and decision.

And a person like that can NOT run this country right now.

But it really all depends on who is appointed to adviser positions.

Does the new President put in people along party lines or do they branch out and create a diverse staff.

I think a diverse staff that crosses party lines is KEY to the Presidency.

And I have more faith in Obama to appoint the advisers necessary than McCain.

I read somewhere that people are confused by the "Change and Hope" campaign by Obama. They don't understand what that means.

I think it means exactly what I am saying.

Instead of the same thing from the same people like the last 8 years we are going to get a different perspective on things from here on.

He is going to be more open to listening to other opinions and take everything into account prior to making a decision.

And that is what we need right now. Someone that we can trust!

The first political post

2008-09-04T10:19:00.004-04:00

Okay, I have read numerous political posts in the past couple of weeks with regards to the candidates for this year.

I am going to tell you right now that I intend to and will be posting my thoughts and views on what is going on.

I am not going to tell you who to vote for. And I am not going to exaggerate or make stuff up about someone to sway your opinion.

All I want to do is argue some things that are coming out and argue people's reasoning in their arguments.

Everyone needs to take a step back and look at the candidates and their interests before making a decision.

This will not turn into a political blog or anything close to it.

The only reason I am saying all of this is because most of the other political posts I have read have begun with someone saying that this is only a one time thing or something like it.

And I don't agree with it. This is the one most influential and important elections ever. Think about it......a black man for President and now a woman for Vice President!!!

I never thought I would see it in my lifetime and I am very excited about it.

The reason I bring this up today is that there have been serious debates in my office lately about the candidates.

And today's really bothered me.

A guy I work with said he likes Palin and that he thinks McCain is going to win in the elections. And that Obama is going to get crushed in any debate they have.

Okay, so I asked him, "did you watch any of the debates prior to the primaries?"

His response....."no, but Obama is only good reading from a teleprompter, he can't come up with things off the top of his head."

Oh really. Interesting opinion considering YOU DIDN'T WATCH THE DEBATES!

I did watch them. I actually recorded one cause I wasn't going to be able to watch it live.

I am not going to say that Obama is better than McCain at debates cause the two haven't faced off against each other yet.

But I remember listening to McCain and watching him back himself into a corner time and time again because he speaks to freely about his ideas and interests. Is that bad? No, I like that he is willing to put himself out there. But by putting yourself out there you are setting yourself up for IMMEDIATE ridicule if your opponent is competent.

The best politicians do one thing better than anything else.....they say a lot while saying NOTHING!!

And Obama is much better at that than McCain. McCain is a lot of times saying something meaningful. He is telling you what his intentions are and how he would do it.

The problem with that is that people instantly form opinions based on what you said and if someone doesn't understand what you meant than you may lose a supporter.

But Obama says very little but he talks all the time. And that is a huge advantage in debates in my opinion. He offers his ideas and interests without getting too deep into the planning of them.

Now like I said before I think McCain should be respected and admired for stating his intentions whenever he is asked.

But if you think McCain is going to destroy Obama in a debate than you obviously haven't watched them debate.

If anyone wishes to comment or debate, please do!!

here you go

2008-09-03T11:49:00.005-04:00

I said I would post pictures of the puppies so here you go.

These are the few that have been removed from the camera already.

This one is of Ash sleeping in our living room

This is Simi laying on the floor by the front door

This is the two of them in the breeder's living room when we picked them up

here is Simi looking out from under the chair at the breeder's house

They are very cute and are learning everything very quickly.

Still A Busy Week

2008-08-29T11:33:00.003-04:00

I am still in the midst of a very busy week here in PA.

Last night I had my first fantasy football draft that took about 3 hours to complete. Verb and I have a team together because it costs $100 to join and I don't have that kind of money to spend on games.

But the draft went surprisingly well as we were picking last of 13 teams but ended up with a VERY GOOD team!

The league champion gets $500 so I expect to make some money just in time for Christmas.

Now back to my busy week.

I have soccer practice tonight for kiddo's team.

Tomorrow the family is coming down for dinner to celebrate my sisters birthday and labor day.

And then Sunday a bunch of friends are coming to do our fantasy draft. This one is amongst close friends and only costs about $15 dollars this year. The wife, verb, young buck, lazy old white guy, skittles (formerly monkey), oompa loompa, jari kurri, and myself are in that league so it should be a good time.

And to top all of that off I still have the puppies to watch after and clean up after. They have been pretty good so far this week. No more than a couple messes a day which is a VERY good thing!

Pictures are coming........at some point!

Oh and once again let me remind you where I will be tomorrow during the afternoon and then again after dinner:
Doing what you ask.........watching college football of course!!!!

Quite a Week (so far)

2008-08-27T08:58:00.003-04:00

It has been a busy past couple of days at my house.

Saturday we drove out and picked up our puppies!

So the past few days have been filled with trips outside and playing inside.

Having puppies is a lot like having a baby. It is constant supervision and doing everything you can to make them happy and keep them occupied.

I would even say that having 2 puppies is harder than having a baby because they will destroy things if given the chance. (and remember I do speak from experience)

But the good thing about puppies versus babies is that within a couple months the puppies can (in theory) be left alone for a little while. And OBVIOUSLY a baby can not be left alone for years.

There will be pictures soon but right now they are still on the camera.

I have also begun being the assistant coach for my daughters soccer team which is only 2 nights a week, plus games on Saturdays, but it is something else to take my free time.

And I have started taking classes to be a real estate agent. If anyone living in the Central Pa area is looking to buy or sell in the coming months or years, let me know!

The wife has started classes again at a community college near us. This will be her third semester back in school. She is doing good but the puppies are affecting her study time.

And the kiddo started 2nd grade today. She is kind of excited and kind of not excited. Really she seems pretty impartial to the whole thing.

And to top it all off I have 2 fantasy football drafts this week/weekend to prepare for. I have been working on this stuff for the past few weeks but now they are here and I intend to devote a couple more hours to it. Although some (most) of that time will go to setting up one that is being held at my house.

So it has been and continues to be a very very busy week.

Oh and college football starts this weekend!! My favorite time of the year = football season!

WE ARE PENN STATE!!!!!

How I feel about work.....

2008-08-21T09:29:00.003-04:00

A little thing called...

2008-08-21T08:57:00.003-04:00

Ambition.

It is something that I really wish I had more of.

I haven't really figured out a way to get more of it or if you just slowly develop it as you get older but I need more.

The past couple days I was out of the office doing work in the field and the business I was at had numerous 20somethings doing a lot of work.

And it wasn't just a lot of work but there seemed to be a lot of responsibility on the shoulders.

I have read numerous blogs of people that also seem to have good jobs with a lot of responsibility. And then I look at my own job and I feel like I could do more.

But I don't want to.

When I started this job I was ready to work all day every day with no problem. But then I started and I didn't have anything to do for a few months because I was new.

So now I am used to not doing anything and I can't get motivated to do anything.

The other unfortunate part of my job is that promotions and pay raises are more based on tenure than performance.

Which is good and bad. On one side you are all but guaranteed to get a raise and get promoted but on the other side you don't feel like you have to work for it so you don't.

So like I said, I need some way to get ambition.

I know some of you out there are ambitious and have good jobs and show lots of potential, so I ask you....

have you always been like that?

Were you one of the smart people in high school that always wanted to do better?

When did you become an ambitious person??

Cause I need to become one..........sooner than later.

The Vaca Post

2008-08-12T14:47:00.002-04:00

Okay so I said I would give you a brief vacation review so here it is:

Last week I went to the beach.

There you go, how is that for brief??

Okay Okay I will give you more.

We went and spent the week in North Wildwood, New Jersey. It was a good time but not perfect.

Although I am beginning to realize that NO vacation is ever perfect and expecting them to be perfect is basically being unreasonable.

We went down early last Saturday and were able to get in right away cause some of my family had been staying there the week before.

For many years in my childhood we spent our vacations in Cape May and I hadn't been back in many years. But this past week we went down 2 different times, once for dinner and some site seeing and then for some shopping. Both times were great and it was probably my favorite part of the trip.

The group that went down was me (obviously), the wife, kiddo, verb, young buck, my sister, oompa loompa and his wife and 2 kids. His one daughter is 3 days younger than mine so that works very well.

We played some poker, I actually lost $20 the first night, and we played a lot of Rummikub, which is an awesome game if you ever get the chance to play.

We only spent 3 days at the beach but that is more than enough for me. The problem with being in Jersey is that there are always so many people.

My favorite vacation spot is a neighborhood on the Outer Banks of North Carolina called Pine Island. It is located between Duck in Corolla in the northern part of the Outer Banks. And if you ever get the chance to go, DO NOT pass it up. The problem with Pine Island is the cost. Some places sleep 28 people and cost around $15,000 a WEEK!!

The last time we went we had 5 groups split a $3500 a week place so that wasn't too bad but some of the places are ridiculous. Seriously it is the BEST time you will ever have. It is the most relaxing place to go to the beach.

But we were in Jersey last week and it was nice but not perfect.

And for the first time that I can remember, I was ready to come home from a vacation. I usually never want to leave but this week was different. I am not sure if I was tired of being there or just that I have so much to do back home here that I wanted to come back and get started.

Either way I had a good time, I am glad I got to go, and I am glad to be home.

Back again

2008-08-09T12:23:00.002-04:00

I haven't even looked at my google reader yet but I am sure it is ridiculous. It had 250+ on it when I left last weekend.

I didn't have internet down there for the week so I am completely out of touch.

There will be a brief vacation post coming sometime early this week.

But for now here is your life lesson of the day:

Always take this

off of your finger when you go into the ocean!!

TRUST ME!!!

To all those that are married or engaged, take off your ring or you may lose it in the water.

I speak from experience unfortunately.

2008-08-01T16:15:00.003-04:00

Now I know I haven't been around all week but unfortunately for you (maybe fortunately, depends how you feel), I am not going to be blogging for a little while.

This past week I was on the road all week and while I didn't really work hard or anything like that I still wasn't at my desk doing nothing.

So as you can obviously see...no posts.

But in about 16 hours I will be arriving at the beach for a week.

And I will not have access to the internet for most of the week. I might get to blog once or twice but I wouldn't expect anything if I were you.

Instead look forward to August 11th when I will be back at my boring job doing nothing except reading blogs and occasionally blog (cause lets face it, I don't really blog with any consistency).

So I hope you all enjoy your week and I will not be thinking of any of you next week! (seriously....I won't be)

A Change in Policy

2008-07-24T08:55:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, Caleb Campbell was one day away from beginning his dream of becoming an NFL player.

But today he is days away from another dream......joining his fellow classmates in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Campbell was drafted in the 7th round of this year's NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions. At the time it was a rule and agreed that he would be an active Army recruiter while playing in the NFL instead of completing his necessary 4 years of active duty.

Those were the terms when he was drafted.

But on July 8th the Army changed their rules. Now Campbell will have to serve 2 years of active duty and then he can ask for an early release and (possibly) become a recruiter for the final 2 years of his 4 year requirement.

Why did the Army change their policy?

Mainly because the Air Force and Navy complained. They said it would hurt their recruiting of athletes. Because they still require a graduate to fulfill his required active duty before he can begin a career in something else.

And why are the Navy and Air Force complaining anyways? How often does something like this happen?

Those two academies still had a 4 year requirement in place. And most (if not all) players that sign with service academies instead of colleges are planning on serving their 4 years of active duty. Or else they wouldn't have signed up.

And why wouldn't they change their rules instead. It seems to me that the academies would get more athletes to sign with them if they could reduce or eliminate their active duty requirements if they sign a contract with a professional sports league.

It doesn't happen often. And it would help bring in more kids who figure they are going to the be active duty military when they graduate but there is always that chance that they could be drafted into a professional sport instead.

I bet you would see more talented kids going to the service academies to play sports and become officers if there was an option for that.

Now, do I agree with the ruling by the Army?

Sure. It is fine with me. It is up to them as far as what rules are in place.

But why isn't Campbell's situation being considered under the rules that were in place when he got drafted?

He was drafted when the rule stated he could become a recruiter instead of serving overseas in active duty. So why not allow him to continue on that path and change the rule for any future situations?

Is it okay with Caleb Campbell?

Absolutely. He signed up to be in the Army and the possibility of an future in the NFL developed while he was there. And that is something he still intends to do. He can come back to the NFL in 2 years. It isn't like he is just going to be sitting on his couch watching tv for the next 2 years.

But what does this say about the decision makers at these academies that allow a rule to be in place even though they aren't going to follow it?

This just makes it look like the Army, and most government agencies, will change the rules around whenever they want to get what they want.

This does not make the Army look good.

And it surely WON'T help with recruiting!

more about ME!

2008-07-23T09:50:00.003-04:00

I got this from simply, me. So here it goes, my second meme (with more to come cause I am lazy and these are easy).

What were you doing five years ago?

1. I would have been working construction (probably pouring concrete to be exact)
2. Trying to start my own business (it didn't work out)
3. Looking for a new job
4. Playing NCAA Football 2004
5. As little as possible really

What are/were five things on your to-do list for today?

1. Finish prepping a project for work
2. Play NCAA Football 2009
3. Work on an audio file at home
4. Purchase a new domain name for a new blog (more info coming soon)
5. Work out - I did this this morning, I got up at 5AM to do it!!

What are five snacks you enjoy?

1. Cheez Its
2. Ritz crackers
3. Pringles or Lay's Stacks
4. olives - yes I eat (green) olives as a snack
5. popcorn

the first three are NOT kept in my house or I will eat them ALL in one sitting!

What five things would you do if you were a billionaire?

1. Retire from any real job
2. Donate money to different charities
3. Give the wife some money to open an animal rescue
4. Start a couple dream businesses
5. Pay off my house and buy a couple new cars

What are five of your bad habits?

1. Eating/Snacking (it is one of my favorite things that I have begun to control)
2. Being lazy and un-motivated to do much of anything as far as pursuing my goals
3. Surfing the Internet at work instead of working
4. Forgetting to call people that I intend to call
5. Putting off housework

What are five places you have lived?

1. Lemoyne, PA. I lived here for the first 5 years of my life.
2. New Cumberland, PA. I lived here until I was 19
3. Enola, PA. I only lived here for one year but it was my first time living on my own
4. Mechanicsburg, PA. We lived here until last year and bought our first home in town
5. Etters, PA. We built our new house here last year and moved in in April and plan on staying here for many many years.

Yeah, I have never moved outside of the Harrisburg, PA region. All of these places basically border each other. But I love it here!!

What are five jobs you've had?

1. Retail.....I worked retail at a number of different stores from the time I was 16 until about 21 when I finally left vowing never to return!
2. Delivery....for six months I got up at 2 or 3 in the morning and delivered newspapers around Hershey, Camp Hill, Mechanicsburg, and Harrisburg. Some weekends I was putting 250 miles on my car. Luckily I had this job before gas prices went up. And actually this was probably my favorite job until I wrecked my car because I was sleeping at the wheel. Oops!
3. Construction worker......or grunt laborer. I did all the crap jobs and poured/finished concrete everyday for 4 years. It was a decent job though, as I got plenty of exercise and made decent money. (actually I made more money doing that than I make NOW)
4. Self employed.....for a year and a half I was partners in a construction company. I was still doing the grunt work but at least I was in charge (kinda). But then the housing market FELL APART and I had to leave to make any money.
5. Auditor......I now work (aka. show up and surf the web) for a large organization that treats its employees VERY well. But it is boring and I am already looking towards the next thing.

and that's that. I am not going to tag anyone but if you do it just let me know.

The Mayonnaise Jar and 2 Beers

2008-07-22T14:28:00.003-04:00

Someone sent this to me today, and I think everyone needs this little reminder.

The Mayonnaise Jar and 2 Beers

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day is not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 Beers.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous 'yes.'

The professor then produced two Beers from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

'Now,' said the professor as the laughter subsided, 'I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things---your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions---and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.

The sand is everything else---the small stuff. 'If you put the sand into the jar first,' he continued, 'there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

'Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Spend time with your children Spend time with your parents. Visit with grandparents. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18 holes.

There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first---the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.'

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the Beer represented. The professor smiled and said, 'I'm glad you asked.' The Beer just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of Beers with a friend.'

Ah, Look At The Puppies

2008-07-21T10:14:00.003-04:00

Well the weekend was a good one.

Saturday we got up and headed out by about 10 in the morning to make the drive to pick out our puppies.

We got there right when we were scheduled to at 1 in the afternoon.

The puppies were still too young to really be moving around alot. 1 of the litters was actually too young to even hold as their eyes weren't open yet.

But the other two litters were a little older (the oldest were 3 weeks) so we held a few of them.

We were looking for a red one and another color (we were leaning towards silver/gray) depending on what options there were.

We ended up getting 2 from the middle litter, they were born on July 2.

The 2 we picked were the only red male in the litter and the only silver female in the litter.

That way there is no real confusion when other people are picking their dogs out.

We got to see the father too and he is a BIG husky. Most male huskies average 45-60 lbs but he is 95 lbs in the winter and around 80-85 lbs in the summer.

And the best part of that....

is that we didn't pick the runt of the litter.....

no, we took the biggest of the litters!

Ash, the red male, has huge paws and was noticeably bigger than the other dogs even at 17 days old.

Simi, the silver female, isn't as big and will probably be average sized.

Now I would love to show you plenty of pictures of the dogs now.

But we had a little problem when it came to taking pictures on Saturday.

The problem you ask...

no media card in the camera!

Yes that's right. The wife, who possesses these cameras, forgot to check for the card and unfortunately they were sitting on the desk at home instead of in the camera.

So no digital pictures.

But we improvised and she took a couple with her cell phone and used a disposable that was supposed to stay and chart their growth to take some pictures. (we had taken 2 disposable cameras up so there is still one there)

So here are 3 picks from the cell phone:

this one is Ash
this is Simi
this is both of them sleeping (that is pretty much what the do!)

What are the Odds?

2008-07-18T16:29:00.002-04:00

What Are the Odds?
By: Natalie Josef (View Profile)

About one out of every three people in the United States thinks that winning the lottery is the only way to become financially secure. But the odds of winning a single state lottery are about 18 million to 1.

That’s why I laugh at my friends who buy lottery tickets—to me, it’s just throwing money away. The likelihood you’ll be killed by lightning is roughly 2,650,000 to 1—a lot more likely than winning the lottery.

Have you ever wondered how the odds stack up against each other? For instance, did you know that your odds of winning an Olympic medal are roughly the same as drowning in the bathtub? Check out these odds:

Odds of dying from a dog bite: 1 in 20 million

Odds of becoming a saint: 1 in 20 million

Odds of becoming president: 1 in 10,000,000

Odds of dying from parts falling off an airplane: 1 in 10,000,000

Odds you will be injured by a toilet this year: 1 in 10,000

Odds of finding a four-leaf clover on the first try: 1 in 10,000

Odds of spotting a UFO today: 1 in 3,000,000

Odds of dying from food poisoning: 1 in 3,000,000

Odds of dying from a shark attack: 1 in 300,000,000

Odds of dying from Measles: 1 in 300,000,000

Odds of a child being in a fatal automobile accident: 1 in 23,000

Odds of being wrongly declared dead by a Social Security data entry mistake: 1 in 23,483

Odds of writing a New York Times best seller: 1 in 220

Odds of dating a millionaire: 1 in 215

Odds of getting AIDS from heterosexual sex without using a condom: 1 in 5,000,000

Odds of dying from contact with hot tap water: 1 in 5,005,564

Odds of winning an Academy Award: 1 in 11,500

Odds of bowling a 300 game: 1 in 11,500

Odds of injury from using a chain saw: 1 in 4464

Odds of dying on a bicycle: 1 in 4472

Odds of being murdered: 1 in 18,000

Odds of dying in a car accident: 1 in 18,585

Odds of getting arthritis: 1 in 7

Odds you don’t have health insurance: 1 in 7

Odds of dying from heart disease: 1 in 3

Odds of an American woman developing cancer in her lifetime: 1 in 3

Odds that you will die from the collision of an asteroid hitting the earth in the next one hundred
years: 1 in 500,000

Odds of a non-felon being murdered with a gun: 1 in 500,000

Odds of being in a plane crash: 1 in 500,000

I think we need to keep things in perspective and ignore the commercials that tell you to start dreaming about the millions you’re going to win in the lottery. Actually, just ignore TV altogether. While they’re busy recalling every vegetable for fear of salmonella, no one is mentioning the fact that you’re more likely to die of appendicitis than salmonella. How many people do you know who’ve died from appendicitis? The moral here? Eat your vegetables and don’t play the lottery.

Tomorrow.....

2008-07-18T11:17:00.004-04:00

Well I am officially excited now.

Why?

Tomorrow myself, the wife, and kiddo are heading out towards Altoona, Pa.

So what is so special about Altoona?

Nothing usually.

But tomorrow there is.....

We are purchasing 2 of these....

And eventually they will look like this....

And I am really looking forward to it!

The only problem is that we can't actually bring them home until the end of August.

But we are going to go out and play with 22 puppies and pick our favorite 2.

That's right, the breeder had 3 dogs spit out 22 (actually 23, as one didn't make it) puppies.

And WE get the FIRST PICK!!!!!!

And in other good news....I met with a real estate agent/broker about becoming an agent.

I think I am going to do it. I have to do some schooling first (which I can online) and then pass the test.

But I want to give it a try. I am not going into it full time as I need to actually make money for now. But eventually I would like to be able to quit my job and just sell houses.

That would be pretty cool!

My first MEME

2008-07-17T13:52:00.007-04:00

I have not done a meme on here yet. So let's do one today. I got this from The Black Lounge. His blog is really good, go check it out.

Anger
1. Who did you last get angry with? My friend Monkey
2. What is your weapon of choice? Talking
3. Would you hit a member of the opposite sex? Depends on the situation
4. How about of the same sex? Absolutely if I needed to
5. Who was the last person who got really angry at you? Probably Monkey as well, no one has told me, so thats a guess
6. What is your pet peeve? Lots of them, #1 would probably be people who don't do what they say the are going to do
7. Do you keep grudges, or can you let them go easily? Let go TOO easily; it usually comes back later on

Sloth
1. What is one thing you’re supposed to do daily that you haven’t done in a long time? take vitamins; nothing really necessary
2. What is the latest you’ve ever woken up? probably noon
3. Who have you been meaning to contact, but haven’t? a friend in vegas
4. What is the last lame excuse you made? Not sure, it has been awhile
5. Have you ever watched an infomercial all the way through (one of the long ones…)? No
6. How many times did you hit the snooze button on your alarm clock today? I have never hit a snooze button; I just turn it off, which causes more problems than hitting the snooze!

Gluttony
1. What is your overpriced yuppie beverage of choice? not really sure what falls into this category so I will say nothing cause I drink water most of the time
2. Meat eaters are…: Awesome
3. What is the greatest amount of alcohol you’ve had in one sitting/outing/event? 2 beers; I don't drink much if ever
4. Have you ever used a professional diet company? yes, it didn't work
5. Do you prefer sweets, salty foods or spicy foods? salty

Lust
1. Have you ever caught yourself staring at the chest/crotch of a member of your gender of choice during a normal conversation? yes, hopefully it wasn't too obvious
2. What is your favorite body part on a person of your gender of choice? butt
3. Have you ever been made a proposition by a prostitute? no
4. Have you ever had to get tested for an STD or pregnancy? no
5. Is love at first sight really lust? no; I believe in it

Greed
1. How many credit cards do you own? 1; 2 if you count my corporate card (business travel only)
2. What’s your guilty pleasure store? fast food restaurants, I love em and hate em
3. If you had $1 million, what would you do with it? pay off house and invest
4. Would you rather be rich or famous? rich
5. Would you accept a boring job if it meant you would make megabucks? yes for a while
6. Have you ever stolen anything? yes; we were all kids once
7. How many mp3s are on your hard drive? 500ish

Pride
1. What is one thing you have done that you’re most proud of? raising my daughter (she is 7 now)
2. What’s one thing you’ve done that your parents are most proud of? finished college
3. What thing would you like to accomplish in your life? make a living doing something I actually enjoy ---- write a novel
4. Do you get annoyed by coming in second place? more than people know
5. Have you ever entered a contest of skill, knowing you were of much higher skill than all the other competitors? yes; but the question is, did I win?
6. Have you ever cheated on something to get a higher score? yes; like you haven't!!
7. What did you do today that you’re proud of? I purchased 2 half priced gift cards; they sold out in under 3 minutes! But I got 2!

Envy
1. What item (or person) of your friends would you most want to have for yourself? I would like to have a job I love like my sister and Patty do (they are both teachers and love it)
2. Who would you want to go on Trading Spaces with? No One; I don't trust anyone enough to do it right
3. If you could be anyone else in the world, who would you be? No One; I am perfectly happy in my life!
4. Have you ever been cheated on? not sure, no one ever told me
5. Have you ever cheated? unfortunately, yes (Sorry)

I have more meme's that I need to do, so you will probably be seeing more of them. If you do this one, just let me know so I can check it out!

Contact Info??

2008-07-14T11:12:00.002-04:00

Okay.

So I have been looking into becoming a real estate agent lately and I took this survey/quiz thing for Century 21.

At the end of it they asked if I would like to be contacted by someone for more information.

It asked for some contact info, my home phone number, best time to be reached, and a comments section for anything else.

I put my number, said LATE AFTERNOON, and said in the comments section that if they could not call after 5 than to call my CELL PHONE around lunch.

(and lunch time was an option in the time to be reached section)

So the wife sends me an email earlier telling me that someone from Century 21 called this morning.

They called in the EARLY MORNING to my HOME PHONE NUMBER!!

Why bother asking for the information if you aren’t going to use it?

Exposaroonie-Patriotic

2008-07-11T16:05:00.001-04:00

Hi all, I didn't have a submission for last week's contest but here it is for this week. Please go here to vote for me.

Don't Just Sit And Watch

2008-07-11T09:46:00.001-04:00

Quit being such a wimp.

No more excuses.

Stand up and tell them what you are thinking and feeling.

And don’t take no for an answer.

You owe it to this person and yourself to push them.

What am I referring to here?

Anyone who has a friend or family member that is causing harm to themselves.

Whether that harm is being caused by alcohol abuse, drug abuse, abusive relationships, or just blatant ignorance of a situation.

Obviously there are some people that are going to respond favorably to you saying something and there are some people who won’t.

Does that mean you should be content to just stand back and watch?

Let’s say you have a friend that drive’s drunk on a regular basis.

And just for arguments sake, let’s say you disapprove of them doing this (which you should by the way).

Do you say something to this friend??

Let’s say you decide that they are an adult and can handle it themselves and you ignore it and right it off as part of who they are.

Now let’s say this person has an accident and is killed in it.

Now, don’t you wish you would’ve said something??

Let’s now say you did say something.

But the friend didn’t want to listen and threatened to not be friends with you if you didn’t chill out about it.

Now what do you do?

Your friendship is on the line here.

I think most people would back off because they don’t want to lose a friend.

I am not sure what I would do personally. It would be really hard, especially if it’s a good friend, to risk that friendship for it.

Especially considering your point may not be heard and it wouldn’t make a difference. And then you would have lost a friend and your efforts wouldn’t have changed anything.

That would suck.

But you know what would make that worse.

Is if you back off and they have an accident and die. Then you would beat yourself up about not doing more.

It isn’t an easy thought to have.

But sometimes you have to put your friend’s well-being before your own.

If you truly are a friend and care about someone than you need to step up and say something.

I don’t care if you have never had a more personal conversation than “hey what are you up to tonight?”

You still owe it to your friend and YOURSELF to stand up and do something.

If you watch from the sidelines as your friend tempts death than you aren’t a good friend.

No matter what excuses you come up with.

Note: there is more to this, but it can’t be told right now.

Summer....

2008-07-09T08:27:00.004-04:00

I hate summer!

Okay, maybe I don't hate summer but it just seems to fuck with me a lot.

My problem comes from being completely unmotivated to do anything in the summer.

I am going to the beach in about a month and am doing nothing but thinking about it right now.

And when I get back I will do nothing but think about how much fun it was and how much I want to go back.

Does anyone else have this problem?

My other problem with summer is that sports suck during the summer. I have said on here before that sports are a big part of who I am.

I am a big football and hockey fan, so from about the middle of August til the middle of June I am content. But during the summer there is nothing interesting in the sports world.

Just baseball......which is incredibly boring. I don't mind going to games but can't afford to go to many, but watching it or following it is not something I am interested in doing.

And tv sucks during the summer too. There are no really good shows out there on tv. Just repeats of shows.

So there is really nothing to keep my mind off of my boring job and how much I hate working!

But I think most of my problem is due to vacations happening and nice weather outside. I would rather be at a pool than here all summer long.

Some people probably love summer because of cookouts and vacations and other things.

And I love those things too. But it really affects my motivation and I hate that.

How do you all feel about summer??

Privacy? Maybe not...

2008-07-08T12:55:00.005-04:00

This is for anyone out there that has had their blog discovered by people they didn't want reading it.

And also a message for those who are afraid of that situation happening.

ARE YOU SURPRISED?!?!?

Did you seriously think that all of this is secret and no one is ever going to find out?

There are some people out there whose significant other doesn't know.

If that is you, I will give you a tip......when they find out it will only end BADLY!

A lot of people look at blogging as a form of therapy. Like writing in a journal.

Except....

That a journal is private and NO ONE else (usually) sees it.

And there are a lot of people out there that I am sure use journals as therapy. It makes sense to me.

But blogging is NOT writing in a journal. And it is NOT private.

But I can understand that writing a blog is a form of a journal. But you better be careful what you say cause eventually someone that isn't supposed to see it, will see it.

And then what??

If you are going to put your life out there for others to read and respond to than you better prepare yourself for when someone sees it and doesn't like it.

Cause when you start a blog and start complaining about your life or the people in it you take the risk of those people finding it and getting upset.

I have read about multiple occasions of this. And I have had the worry on my own as far as some friends that I may have insulted on here.

Every time you give a detail about your life, a puzzle piece if you will, you are giving people a clue to your real identity.

And with every little clue people can start to piece together the puzzle.

Even the biggest puzzle can be put together with time and effort.

If someone wants to know who you are they will find out and if you are giving them daily updates than you are just helping the cause.

Even when you give total anonymity to your characters and yourself people could still figure it out. All it takes is a little knowledge of the real world situation.

If you have no connection other than the blog to readers than it would be almost impossible to complete the puzzle.

The problem is.......

There is no way to tell who is reading.

Still alive and kickin

2008-07-07T15:34:00.002-04:00

Wow....I haven't posted since the 25th of June.

Huh? I wonder where I have been.....oh well.

Are there any readers still left out there?

If so I apologize. I haven't really been overly busy or anything, just unmotivated to blog.

Last week I was on the road for work. I didn't have to stay over night but I had to drive about 3 hours a day and by the time I got back I didn't want much to do with a computer.

The past couple weekends have been relatively uneventful. A couple family dinners and one with friends.

Job is still kinda shitty. Finding out more and more about the future lately. Looks as though my job is possibly going to change. Could possibly be moving offices around the city. Hoping to get promoted and transferred to another department but I have to wait a couple months for that yet.

I think I might start applying to other jobs just to see what is out there. I kinda like the one I am in but there isn't much of a future and earnings are limited.

Oh well. Maybe I can stay on task and post every day or so again.

Time will tell.......

Exposaroonie-Vibrant Colors

2008-06-27T14:56:00.003-04:00

So heres the picture for the challenge for this week, if anyone's interested. Please vote for me here.

Please, Stop!

2008-06-25T15:20:00.003-04:00

My one co-worker has the most annoying laugh EVER!!

And he thinks EVERYTHING is funny, especially if he says it.

He was just at the cubicle next to me talking to the guy in there and laughing at his own STUPID comments.

I just want him to SHUT UP!!!!!!

I hate annoying laughs. Especially when the person only laughs when THEY say something funny.

It drives me NUTS!!

A Weekend--

2008-06-24T15:13:00.003-04:00

Who doesn't love Wendy's?

We went there Friday night and I am pretty sure that when we left the drive thru they closed down for the night.

Why would I think that?

Cause we bought enough food from them that they probably reached their daily quota!

Other than Friday night was pretty slow.

Watched the NHL Draft for a bit, fixed Verb's car, and watched a movie.

Saturday was a little more eventful.

Got up and did some yardwork in the morning and whined about how the Euro 2008 games suck on the weekends cause Russia was playing.

I was wrong about that by the way as that soccer game was incredible to watch. Russia won 3-1 in extra time and it was just a great game.

After that we ate a light dinner and went to my sister's graduation party.

It was kind of awkward cause her ex boyfriend (of 8.5 years) was there and she is already dating someone else (this guy here). And apparently he is taking it hard.

He is a nice kid and I feel bad for him but the breakup was WAY over due.

They are 23/24 and had been together for 8.5 YEARS!!! Everyone just assumed that they would eventually get married.

But anyways.....

I got to see alot of old neighbors and friends from growing up that I hadn't seen in numerous years.

And I had some decent food too. Nothing much but some decent finger foods and good desserts.

We left there at about 10 (already over an hour past kiddo's bedtime) cause we needed to get up and walk around Hersheypark all day Sunday.

Sunday was GREAT!!

We left the house at about 915 to pick up verb and young buck.

We got to Hershey and met up with my sister (lets call her Bull from here on).

Oh and parking was ridiculous.......$10 a CAR!!!

We went into the park and immediately headed for the water park area so that we could rent lockers and put our change of clothes in there for the day.

We stopped for a minute to look at the new roller coaster, Fahrenheit! It has the STEEPEST drop in the UNITED STATES. The ride goes straight up (not kidding, it looks like a right angle) and then comes back down at 97 degrees! That's right it actually goes BEYOND STRAIGHT DOWN!!

None of us got on it, partly cause some of us (me) can't handle that and partly because that was like the only ride in the park with a line.

See a few years ago, before the water park, the lines in the park would ALWAYS be ridiculous and you would probably wait about 30 minutes just to get on anything in the park. But since the water park opened half of the people spend their time back there and the other half ride the rides. It is great!

After that we got on a bunch of rides and had lunch (not cheap) before heading back to the water park.

-side note- if you are pregnant you really outta NOT were a bikini, PLEASE!

The water park is fun. There are 4 different water slides, 2 separate little wave pools, a roller coaster, Canyon River Rapids (best water ride ever, you get absolutely SOAKED!), and this other water park/slide/pool/jungle gym.

After watching kiddo shake like a leaf cause she was cold we got changed and continued riding rides and playing games.

The best ride at the park, in my opinion, is the Great Bear. It is an inverted roller coaster that is a lot of fun.

We were all pretty tired and during a thunderstorm warning (most the rides were closed) we stopped and rested and had dinner (again, not cheap).

After dinner we rode a bunch of rides again, played some games, and pretty much thoroughly exhausted ourselves.

We left the park at about 915 and started the trek home.

If you ever go to Hersheypark (which you absolutely SHOULD) remember to take something to drink with you.

We have this cool bag from here that has a cooler in the bottom. We took 10 bottles of water and saved money cause a bottle in the park costs $3!!

I haven't been at the park that long or had that much fun at the park in like 14 years!!

Kiddo is 7 but is very tall (51") already. So she is able to get on just about everything there (only 4 or 5 things she can't get on yet) and she rode just about EVERYTHING she could.

And she LOVED it all. I don't do wooden roller coasters, I will only get on steel ones. But she rode all of the wooden coasters with no issues and actually rode the one twice. I was very impressed.

And she had BY FAR the most energy left at the end of the night. She probably would have stayed and ridden rides for another couple hours!

Let's Drill It, That Will Help

2008-06-23T09:05:00.004-04:00

Here are two articles that I found on PennLive, a site that features stories and news from around the Harrisburg area and in Pennsylvania in general.

This one is about how the government (local or national) is getting too involved in the lives of its citizens.

If you don't want to read it, here is a brief overview.

The borough of Stroudsburg (near the Poconos) has decided that people cannot have furniture on their front porch if it was intended for indoor use.

Meaning that they cannot have a couch or upholstered chairs on their front porch.

Why can't they you ask...

Because they say it could start a fire. Back in 1994 (14 years ago and none since) there was a fire at Bloomsburg University that started in a porch sofa.

So the borough is arguing that for people's safety no one can have a porch sofa any more.

Now lets consider the real reason....

It looks terrible. And to a point it does.

I have seen front porches that have a TON of trash and junk on their front porch. It is dirty looking and definitely influences the opinions of people that are driving through.

But once you buy a home aren't you allowed to do with it what you please (obviously within reason).

I hate looking at homes with junk all over the front porch but a couch? Please...don't these governments have ANYTHING better to do?

The second article is about drilling in Alaska because of how gas prices have shot up.

I was never against this and still am not but the reason to do it now is RIDICULOUS.

The article says that in 2000 70% of Americans were against it but now only %49 percent are against it.

And the reason people are starting to like the idea is because they all think it will help gas prices!

Maybe I am wrong about this but even if the government allowed companies to drill there, wouldn't it take a few years before drilling actually started??

And wouldn't we STILL run out of oil eventually??

And it WOULDN'T lower gas prices anyways!! It would just make us a little (and by little I mean not much at all) less dependent on foreign oil.

So here is an idea....(and I realize how completely ridiculous and absurd this is, but I have to say it)

Lets try some alternative energy!

The sun or wind seem to produce energy, so let's power our homes and world with them.

You want to heat your home, get a geo-thermal unit. I have one, they work WONDERFULLY!

And for cars....electric, hydrogen, bicycles, or I don't know maybe MASS TRANSIT!?!?!?!

(And I don't want to hear about ethanol because that WILL NOT help the prices. Ethanol is just as or even more expensive than gas.)

I ride the bus daily and it saves me a ton (it costs $45 for a whole month or you can get 25 rides for $32). But of the probably close to 50,000 people that work in Harrisburg, I would bet there are only 1,000 (maybe 2,000) that regularly take the bus.

And yes I know some people can't take mass transit due to where they live but there are ALOT that could if they wanted to. And for those who think they can't take it....I don't live on a bus route, I drive about 10 minutes to get to one then I park and ride the bus. There are even lots around the midstate for this EXACT PURPOSE!

I don't know maybe I am just being stupid to think that we could use things other than oil and gas to get by.

But something tells me that it has been done before?!?!

1/2 of All Marriages End in Divorce

2008-06-20T16:18:00.003-04:00

An interesting fact:

"This statistic (see title) is the ace in the hole when it comes to showing the moral decay of our times...but statistically speaking, it's useless. This figure is derived by taking the number of marriages per year and comparing it to the number of divorces per year. And since there are nearly half as many divorces as marriages, people would conclude that half of all marriages end in divorce. This statistic would be correct if everyone married only once and divorced only once, but thanks to the Larry Kings and Elizabeth Taylors of the world, things don't add up. The actual number of marriages that end in divorce is closer to 1 in 4, or 25 percent."
~Stupid History by Leland Gregory, pg 16

I Won 6-3

2008-06-20T15:46:00.003-04:00

I know that I haven't exactly been keeping up with the blog recently. It seems like each week I post a little less.

And I really don't have a reason for it.

I typically only post when I am at work and I usually have so many blogs to read that by the time I am done reading it is time to go.

So sorry to anyone that has been looking for a new post. (I know there isn't anyone like that but I like to boost my ego once in a while)

I had a pretty good week.

I took a "sick" day yesterday and played some tennis against verb (I won 6-3) but we only played one set cause neither of us is in any kind of shape right now. And we both pretty much sucked.

Tennis is a lot of fun. I used to play a lot when I was younger but most of the people that I played against then have moved to different parts of the country.

So I hadn't actually played a real game of tennis in about 10 years and have probably only hit a ball around MAYBE a dozen times in that period.

But it was fun (I won, in case I forgot to mention it) and I hope to play again soon.

This weekend has the potential to be fun.

We are going to a graduation party for my sister tomorrow night (she graduated back in the beginning of May, not sure why the delay but whatever).

And then on Sunday we are planning on going to Hersheypark for the day. Only planning right now because mother nature is being a bitch and is threatening to rain on us.

But we have free tickets and they have to be used by the 4th of July so.....we will probably be going no matter what.

Other than that there isn't much going on. Maybe I will have something insightful to say next week. I have a few ideas, I just need to sit down and actually write something.

Random Quotes

2008-06-20T14:27:00.004-04:00

So in my boredom, and avoidance to house work, I think I'm going to post random quotes from time to time. Here's the winning quote:

"Some people are like a Slinky... not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you shove them down the stairs"

I have no idea were I saw, read, or heard this, but I think its a great quote.

Exposaroonie Silhouettes

2008-06-20T08:10:00.006-04:00

This week's challenge is Silhouettes. Which in theory isn't too difficult, however, in wonderful central PA, the only weather we've had for the past week or so is cloudy and not too bright, which makes this week's challenge a bit of a pain in the rear.

But no worries I took this lovely picture in Pine Island, NC. (And no its not really an island, google it.) So please go here and vote for me.

Thanks, see you next week!!!

A Good Weekend

2008-06-16T16:00:00.003-04:00

I know it is now Wednesday but this post was actually supposed to go up on Monday but my computer wasn't helping me out. So read it now and I will hope to have something new later.

It was a pretty uneventful weekend around these parts.

Friday night we decided that we would go bowling with young buck, verb, and my sister (who is going to need a name on here, it will be coming soon).

It was my daughters first time bowling (other than wii bowling of course). And she loved it.

She isn't quite big enough to really throw the ball but the bumpers kept it moving.

After bowling we all went back to our house and played some mario kart until about 1130 when the ladies got back with food.

And then we proceeded to talk for 5 hours. Nothing else. Just sat at the dining room table and talked.

About what you ask....

Nothing really, part of the conversation was interesting but it isn't blog ready material just yet.

Saturday (after getting 3.5 hours of sleep) I cut the grass and then watched sports. But you already knew that.

Sunday I got up and we went to breakfast with my family (it was okay, I was expecting more) and then to the mall.

The wife was looking for a bathing suit for this year and they are difficult to find apparently.

After that we went home and watched tv the rest of the day. I didn't do anything.

It was the perfect weekend. I needed a nice relaxing do nothing weekend.

Best Day Of Sports In A While!!

2008-06-15T14:38:00.003-04:00

To know me you have to know that I love sports. My favorites being football and hockey.

This time of year is not much fun for sports because I do NOT watch the NBA and I barely watch any baseball.

But yesterday was great.

My day started with Spain vs Sweden in Euro 2008. It was a great game!!

Spain won 2-1 in extra time. And as far as European teams go Spain is my favorite.

But more importantly in that game I found a European born player that I can root for in Fernando Torres. He is a forward for the Spain team and is a good player.

But more importantly he shows excellent sportsmanship and hustle.

After one turnover in the offensive zone that he committed he chased the guy down and knocked the ball away from him. That is something that very FEW forwards will do. The only time you will usually see a forward in the defensive half of the field is on a kickoff or a free kick when they are back defending.

His sportsmanship was evident when instead of just walking away from a ball that had gone out he went and got it for the OTHER team! That is unheard of in soccer. Usually no matter how close the opposing team is to the ball they will never get it for the other guys. But he did.

And one other time at the half a bunch of the players were complaining to the officials and he stepped in between and got all of his guys away without incident.

It is just the show of respect and SMART play that he shows that will cause me to root for him.

After the soccer game the sports day slowed down for a while.

I watched a little of the College World Series game between Stanford and Florida State but I didn't see the end when Stanford scored 11 runs in the 9th inning.

I also watched a little of Russia vs Greece in Euro but not the whole thing.

But then at about 845 last night I turned on the US Open and watched Tiger Woods make 3 AMAZING shots.

The best one was on the 17th when he chipped the ball in the cup. (if you want to see it I am sure espn has it up on their site or just turn on sportscenter and watch top plays, I am sure it will be there.)

His reaction to that shot was incredible. He seemed almost embarrassed to have made it. He was definitely surprised that it went in. It was impressive.

After that I turned on Georgia vs Miami in the CWS in the top of the 9th and watched Georgia come from one run down to win the game.

All in all a very good day for sports, especially this time of year.

After all that I went to bed around 11 to get some decent sleep after not getting to bed until 5 the previous morning!

The Wicked Truth

2008-06-13T09:31:00.001-04:00

The Wicked Truth
Originally uploaded by exposaroonie

Okay here we go...

I'm going to try to post from flickr's page...

This is just a test....beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.....

Exposaroonie - Locations

2008-06-13T09:22:00.005-04:00

Take two....

This week's Exposaroonie challenge is locations. Being that gman told me about the website around 6:30ish last night and the pic had to be submitted last night by 11:59pm, I didn't have alot of options. However I do think I ended up with a cute picture. How cute you ask? Here it is:

Isn't he soooo cute?!? Please go to this website to vote for me. If you prefer one of the other photographs just wipe the whole site from your mind and don't vote at all :)

Welcome

2008-06-13T09:04:00.003-04:00

I would like to welcome the wifey to my blog as a contributor.

This will be her first foray into the blogging world.

She enjoys photography and I told her yesterday about exposaroonie and she jumped at the chance to do it.

I doubt very much that she will post general stuff but you may see some photos from her on a regular basis.

I am sure that she will be a regular participant on the challenges over at exposaroonie, so go vote for her there and here.

So welcome wifey, aka the wicked truth.

And yes one word of that is true...wicked!

Seriously, she is!

Unreal

2008-06-12T10:24:00.003-04:00

I have been listening to my coworker whine this morning.

He is set to retire in July sometime and there is a possibility that he could be temporarily laid of for a few days in July.

It is confusing and I am not going to elaborate cause I really don't understand it.

But either way he is worried.

Why you ask. That's a good question.

He is worried because when this organization factors in your pension they look at your three highest earning years and come up with some amount to pay you for the rest of your life.

And if he was to be laid off for the entire month of July he would lose some money on his pension.

How much would he lose that is causing him to whine each day?

$1.73 a month!!

Or $20.76 a year!!

And he figures that he will live for around another 20 years or so.

Lets look at how much he would lose after some time.

Say he lives for 10 more years...he would lose $207.6 total.

20 years.....$415.20

30 years.....$622.80

40 years (unlikely as he is already in his 60s)......$830.40

Are you kidding??

I could understand his whining if it was $100 a year or something. But seriously, $1.73 a month or $20.76 a year??

Just knock it off. You are acting like a baby who had a toy taken away.

Words of Wisdom

2008-06-11T10:39:00.004-04:00

First of all, if you haven't seen this, check it out.

Now onto my post for today.

I have been talking to a buddy of mine for a few months now on a somewhat daily basis about his issues.

A little background for you:

My friend (lets call him M) met a girl while he was studying abroad in Spain and began dating this girl (lets call her E) when he was there.

They proceeded to carry on this long distance relationship for 5.5 years. She was going to school for the last couple of years in NC so it wasn't always different countries.

M would drive down from Maryland to see her every other weekend when she was on this continent.

M is not what one would call over-confident in himself (I may be to blame for some of that as me and other friend Patty would regularly pick on him cause he was shorter than us and for other reasons), so he probably hung on longer than most would have. E was a good looking girl who liked attention.

E apparently got too much attention from another guy at some point recently and decided to not worry about M and proceeded to cheat on him. No telling how long this went on for, but M found out about 3 months ago.

So now M is hurt, angry, and confused. Even though he will openly admit that he wanted to end things with E before this, he is still very hurt by what she did.

So last night we were talking and he was talking about what he wants to do at that he isn't interested in getting involved with anyone else right now. And while I agree that he isn't ready yet I suggested something else to him.

And this is advice that many of you should consider.

I have heard over the years from people that they plan on focusing on their careers before they start a family or get married. And I believe there are probably parents out there telling there kids to worry about themselves and their career first because you can always have a family later.

To me that sounds backwards. (to understand picture at right click here.)

Now I am not saying just stop working and look for love but don't be afraid of it because you have goals to meet in your professional life.

Love is much rarer than a good career and it is much harder to find.

If you are truly good at and passionate about what you do than you will always be able to find work that will make you happy.

But how many people find someone else that they want to spend the rest of their life with?

I have a few friends that have either not found this yet because they say they need to worry about finding themselves first. Or they don't want to get involved with someone until they are at a certain place in their life.

WHY?

Now I must clarify that I don't think you can go looking for love. It either happens or it doesn't. It is either there or it isn't. It isn't something that can be faked (for very long anyway) or manufactured.

So like I said before I do not mean just focus on your love life and not your professional life because then you will be miserable in both.

But do not avoid getting involved with someone because of your career or anything else.

Basically what I am saying is your career can wait, love can't and shouldn't. You can put your career on hold for a couple years and have no problem picking it back up. But you can't put love on the back burner (more than likely anyway) because either the other person will be gone or you won't feel the same.

Just a thought I had. Do you agree? If not, how come?

A Weekend Review

2008-06-10T14:20:00.004-04:00

if you haven't seen this, check it out.

Once again I had a pretty good weekend. There was much mario kart playing and some pretty good eating.

It all started with the previously mentioned trip to Circuit City.

After that was done wifey and I picked up our daughter from school (her last day of the year).

We proceeded to head back home where my daughter and I played some mario kart until verb joined us. She isn't very good yet (she is only 7 and wants to turn her WHOLE body instead of just the wii wheel).

We then went to her last soccer practice for the season where the parents were playing the kids.

Wifey was smart and she packed gatorades and waters for the 4 of us.

Verb played goalie in high school and I haven't played competitively since middle school but we probably could have beaten all the kids AND all the other parents by ourselves.

After the scrimmage we returned home, ordered some food, picked up said food (pizza, sub, wings), young buck came over, and we played mario kart and bowling until about 11.

By the way...I had 8 strikes in a row on wii bowling while LAYING DOWN!! I barely roll strikes when I am standing but laying down, I am unbeatable!

Saturday morning was the day of my daughters soccer tournament. The first game was at 8am.

That's right I was up at 6 AM on a freaking Saturday!

Her team played well. It is tough for kids that age. They don't keep score at any of the games all season and then all of a sudden for one day they keep score and have a champion.

They finished 3rd out of 7 but if the coach knew what he was doing they would have won the whole thing.

Thankfully the tournament was over at noon so it wasn't too terribly hot out yet.

After lunch the mother-in-law took my daughter (let's just call her kiddo from here on) to see Kung-Fu Panda.

And my wife went to work for a few hours.

So what did I do considering it was like 800 degrees outside??

Slept.....for a good 2 hours, woke up at 4 and called wifey to see how much longer she would be, and then fell back to sleep for another 30 minutes.

Got up at 430 when wifey said she was on her way home and verb called to tell me he would probably be up within an hour.

He showed up around 530 and young buck showed up a few minutes later so we watched the Belmont and ate some spaghetti for dinner.

After dinner....

More Mario Kart and a little poker. We didn't play for money though since there was only 4 of us (wifey played too).

Sunday was even more uneventful.

Woke up and watched tv all morning, went swimming at my dad's in the afternoon, and went to Red Lobster for a small over priced meal. (I don't eat much seafood, only breaded shrimp, so it was more for the wife and kiddo) But I got a (somewhat fatty and MAYBE 8 oz) steak, 5 shrimp, and a small baked potato for $17.50.

Some of you may not find that a rip off, but I surely do. I can get an incredible steak down the road for 10 bucks a pound. Seriously the steak is the best you have ever had. If you ever visit the Harrisburg area of PA, let me know and I will make you the best steak you have ever had!

But I didn't have the good steak, I had a Red Lobster steak. oh well.

After that we went home and stayed on the couch until bed.

That was the weekend. The next one will be even more uneventful.

You HAVE To Read This

2008-06-09T11:17:00.002-04:00

Have you ever watched someone actually eat until they puked??

And I don't mean an eating contest or anything. Just a normal meal??

I have. Check this out for the story.

Seriously, check this out.

If you read nothing else today, it should be this.

Did you read this yet?

If not, go here now!!

Correction

2008-06-09T08:00:00.004-04:00

I must correct myself about something I said in my previous post.

The camera the wife got was not a canon SLR. It was a Canon Digital SLR or something like that.

It is the Digital Rebel XTi to be exact.

This one actually.

My wife told me that I had to learn about the camera so that I didn't misinform anyone else.

So there you go Wifey, I have corrected my mistake! HA!

Nothing for Me

2008-06-08T08:38:00.003-04:00

I am still here. Just been a little busy this week.

I got home from Scranton on Friday and have been pretty busy ever since.

We got back to our vehicles on Friday at noon and I came straight home got in my car with the wife and went to lunch at Subway and then to Circuit City.

She was getting a camera and verb went along so that I could co-sign on a new tv for him.

If only things would have gone that smoothly on this trip.

She picked out the camera that she wanted (some canon SLR model). And he picked out the tv he wanted.

I used my Circuit City line of credit (I bought 2 LCD tvs there last April) to buy the camera but the sales guy rang it up wrong so we had to go to the customer service desk and return it and buy it again.

Then (even with me co-signing) verb got declined for his own line of credit cause he has no credit.

Not bad credit, but no credit. And instead of making a sale that I am sure Circuit City would like to make, the bank said no way.

There was a deal going on on tvs too. No interest for 24 months. The tv he wanted was under 1200 bucks.

Do the math....that's less than 50 bucks a month. Who wouldn't pay that back?

So instead of leaving without a tv, I did what any friend would do (I would like to think so anyway).

I bought him the tv on my line of credit with 24 months no interest. So now he owes me 50 bucks a month for 2 years.

Now I would not do this for any of my friends. In fact I think there are only 2 friends that I would do this for (and for anyone other than verb reading this that knows me, the other one isn't you, so don't ask).

I trust him to pay me back and I know where he lives.

So if I don't get paid back, I all of a sudden have a third LCD tv (which I absolutely need).

Another Good Time

2008-06-04T19:48:00.007-04:00

This past weekend was another good one at my place of residence.

We had another cookout (smaller than Memorial Day's) with incredible food and a great group of friends.

We had barbecue chicken, potatoes, a veggie, and a good desert.

To understand the incredibleness of the chicken you would have to taste the barbecue sauce that the wife makes. She has taken a family recipe and twisted it up a bit and it is AMAZING!!

I actually put it on everything (okay, maybe not EVERYTHING) like potatoes and broccoli. That is the best. Especially on the potatoes. I will actually eat a steak with a potato and heat up some bbq sauce for the potato.

But I got ahead of myself here in this story and I honestly just realized it. I was going to talk about my WHOLE weekend and yet I started the story on Sunday. So let's start over.

This past weekend was another great one at my place of residence.

Friday was a nice quiet night at home after a haircut and some yard work. I watched Charlie Wilson's War (loved it) and stayed in, just the wife and I.

Saturday I got up at 8ish and made eggs for everyone while we waited for a phone call from my daughters soccer coach to see if the game was cancelled due to storms.

I called my family to tell them that the game was likely to be canceled (which it was) and my sister asks me if my mom can take my daughter for the night. I was all for it and so was the wife.

So my mom and sister came and picked her up around noon.

After which, the wife went to work and I started on my yard work. (side note - the yard work has been consisting of tearing out grass and laying down some mulch to create some great flower beds.

After she got home from work and I was done we went to the Olive Garden for a nice quiet (not so much when they seated about 8 little kids at a nearby table) dinner.

After dinner we went home to watch the Pens/Wings game before heading out late with some friends (sister, donkey, young buck, and verb) to a nice arcade/bar called the Coliseum. It is very much like a Dave & Busters (which we don't have here in the greater Harrisburg area).

When we were done there after about 3 hours we headed down to Denny's for a late night snack or very early breakfast for some.

We got home at about 3 and went to sleep around 4.

So I decided that I would get up at 8ish the next morning! BRILLIANT!!

I had more yard work to do and had to get things ready for the previously mentioned cookout.

I cut the grass and created even more flower beds for about 5 hours (during which I drank 80 oz of Gatorade). Then I started pealing potatoes and getting the place set up for friends and family.

My dinner guests included the group that was out the night before and my mom and her husband.

And as I previously mentioned, it was a GREAT time!

After dinner we of course played some bowling on the Wii and then some serious Mario Kart before I kicked everyone out at about 930 cause I was EXHAUSTED.

And then it was back to work on Monday and Tuesday I left for Scranton, PA.

I am still in Scranton (yes, the place the Office is set in) and will be until Friday.

I went to a baseball game last night at PNC Field, home of the Scranton/Wilkes Barre Yankees. And they LOST!!

I couldn't have asked for a better outcome, I hate the Yankees (all of them).

That was probably the most beautiful baseball stadium I have been to. And just so I am honest and you don't mistake me for an expert, I have been to (the late) Veterans Stadium in Philly, Camden Yards in Baltimore, and Riverside Stadium in Harrisburg.

But really the place is beautiful. If you are ever in Scranton or Wilkes Barre you should get to a game. Parking was (surprisingly and impressively) free and great seats down the third base line were only $10.

Just Admit It

2008-06-02T07:48:00.003-04:00

There are many things in this life that piss me off or bother me. But there aren't many things that bother me as much as this.

Fans of sports teams that can't appreciate another team.

I love hockey. I am a Capitals fan. Not a Penguins fan or (especially) a Flyers fan.

I thing all Philly fans are idiots (and yes I am an Eagles fan, but no I am not an idiot, all the time).

At my work there is a idiotic Flyers fan that I have to deal with. And he hates the Penguins.

He does know his hockey though. He has played and understands the game very well. And he makes sure he tells you that.

In fact this morning (about 8 minutes ago) he comes into my cube and says "I know my hockey, don't I?" Because he told me on Friday that the Wings would win on Saturday night.

The thing I hate about fans like this is that they can't appreciate good play from teams they hate. And they never give credit where credit is due.

He insists that the Penguins are not any good and (for this series) he thinks the Red Wings are the best team in the world. And he HATES Sydney Crosby (the Pens star player) and can not handle that he might be the best player in the NHL.

I know a decent amount about hockey and will admit that the Wings are playing INCREDIBLE hockey right now. But I still think the Penguins have a chance and have been playing pretty well.

Although I am not surprised with how the series is going. I thought it would go 6 games and it still may but it doesn't look good.

As a die-hard Penn State football fan (I really do bleed blue and white, honestly, you should see it) I am not a fan of either Ohio State, Michigan, Notre Dame, or really any other college football team. But I can admit that those teams are better than PSU, if they actually are.

But when the Pens beat the Flyers in the previous playoff round this IDIOT gave the Pens ABSOLUTELY NO credit and couldn't admit that the better team won.

He used excuses like luck, injuries, and officiating, instead of just saying the Pens are good and they just played better than the Flyers. And all he did was bitch about Crosby and how he dives and all this other crap.

I HATE THAT!! Just admit the facts and grow up!!

Faith No More

2008-05-31T10:18:00.003-04:00

Lately I have seen many different articles and posts that have to do with religion.

I saw a post from Devils Heaven about this article.

Then I saw this article on msn.

And then Lynne wrote this.

So I thought, "I have some opinions on this stuff, let me share with everyone."

But first some background:

I grew up in a Catholic household. I went to Catholic school from kindergarten to 8th grade. And then I had the choice of high schools and chose a Catholic high school because my friends were going there.

So I went to a Catholic school for 13 years. My parents are (were) Catholic, my grandparents are very Catholic, and most of my relatives are Catholic to some extent.

My wife......is a pagan.

I was baptized, had first holy communion, and was confirmed into the church. But...

I no longer consider myself a Catholic. Most people describe me (and others like me) as a non-practicing Catholic.

I say BULLSHIT!

I do not consider myself an atheist (yet) but rather an agnostic. If someone could prove to me that there is a God than I would believe, but until then I believe that gods don't exist.

So lets examine a couple of those articles I mentioned previously.

First up is the excommunication of anyone that ordains a female priest.

Why? Because women aren't equals?

No its because Jesus didn't have any female apostles so there can be no female priests!

Oh, well that makes perfect sense! How ridiculous is the Catholic church!

I spent 13 years learning about the history of the Catholic faith and why it is what it is and I am pretty sure it was all a LIE!!

And that's why I think the other article about a religious theme park is perfect.

I mean really, what is the difference between Disney characters and Jesus?

One thing, the characters from Disney are typically animated where as Jesus is usually thought of as a human.

But really they are similar.

They are both works of fiction. They have each contributed to a ridiculous amount of money for their creators. And people love them or hate them.

Kids believe in the Disney characters just like some (brain-dead) adults believe in Jesus and everything he said.

Do you really believe that someone can take water and turn it into wine right in front of everyone? Or take bread and fish and make it multiply for everyone??

Seriously?

They are no different than Alice in Wonderland or Fantasia.

Wonderful stories that are part of the greatest works of fiction that the world has ever seen.

Now don't get me wrong. If you believe in this stuff that's fine, just leave me alone.

My sister is quite religious. She is a christian and truly believes that I am going to hell. But I don't want to hear about it.

I am a good person. I am nice to everyone and I give everyone the benefit of the doubt. And many times that gets me into trouble but its who I am.

But I don't believe in a god (or the God).

So does that mean that I am going to hell? I guess that depends....

do I believe in heaven and hell??

I Couldn't Make This Up!!

2008-05-30T11:50:00.007-04:00

Jari (pronounced Yar-ee) sent this email out to a few of us a couple weeks ago:

alright kids

we all know my love affair with my 86 camry

we also know all the fun problems that come with a 22 year old car

my registration is up at the end of july, i would bet she isnt going to pass without quite a bit of money dropped on my part

i dont know what im going to do about a replacement yet

but

i am asking you if you know of any place i might store her

ive looked into storage places but that shit can get expensive

im not looking to drop $50 a month to store her, bc then its just cheaper for me to keep her on the streets and insured

i can just get some guido south philly fuck to have her "pass" inspection

so, any ideas? maybe someone that has a bunch of industrial storage space, etc...

any suggestions are welcomed

bc one day im gonna restore her and be the only kid on the block with a classic 1986 camry

I responded with this:

i personally think you should do right by her and drive into the FUCKING RIVER!!

but no, I don't know of anyplace to store it.

Jari:

fuck off

ive had 400 different ppl telling me many different ways to kill her

the most entertaining idea was to take her out in a field shoot her and blow her up

NEVER!!

Monkey's response to the first email:

I have a great place where you can keep it... Newberrytown Auto Salvage. It's kinda like being an organ donor... "Parts" of her will live-on in many other cars for years to come.

Everytime you see an '86 Camry on the roads, you can think to yourself... "I wonder if any of 'my old girls' parts are in that one".

The best part is... the Salvage yard will pay you to let them harvest the remaining 'good' parts from the old girl. :)

What do ya think?

Good Idea?

I personally like Monkey's idea. unique and resourceful.

something tells me Jari didn't enjoy it.

And yes he is serious, he intends to put classic tags on his 1986 CAMRY!!!

1 pitch, 1 run

2008-05-29T12:56:00.003-04:00

I haven't posted in a couple of days mainly because I haven't really had any urge to.

But I am back on this Wednesday (oh yeah, it's actually Thursday). I love short weeks!

Last weekend:

I had a good time all weekend.

Friday the wife, daughter and I went to this little pizza buffet place (which sucked) and to look at a new car. And while we came away feeling like we could afford it we decided that it just wasn't the right time to add the car payment to the bills.

After that we watched a movie (the holiday) which was very good.

Saturday I got up early (8ish) and got started on my yard (house) work that I had planned for the weekend.

I had been waiting for weeks to stain my deck because I needed a few days with no rain and a full day to scrub and stain it. Finally this past weekend came along and I got to do it.

I never want to do it again!

After scrubbing the whole deck which made my arms hurt I took a few hours break to let the deck dry from hosing it down.

While I took a break I walked around the yard (which I have had since April of 07) and picked up rocks and dug out rocks (that were there when I moved in) because they are ruining my lawn mower.

After that I had lunch and then got started staining the deck.

About 2 (I think, close to 2 anyway) Verb called and said he was coming down. I didn't remind him that I was staining the deck because I figured at worst I would have company or maybe he would help a bit.

And he did. He also ruined the shorts he had on as he somehow got paint on them.

After we were done with the deck Young Buck came down and we played some wii, had dinner, played some wiffle ball, watched the Pens/Wings game, and played more wii (mario kart) until about 2 am.

Good Times!

Sunday I got up early (830ish) and relaxed for a minute or two before starting to set up and get things ready for the cookout that would commence at 3pm.

I cleaned up the tools I used Saturday in the yard, got the toys out to play with, and started washing some furniture for later.

Verb came down around 1 to wash his car, after which we washed my car when it arrived home from being out. Young Buck arrived shortly after that.

We finished getting set up for the cookout before retiring to the couch to watch some of the Indy 500 and (surprise) play some Mario Kart Wii.

We went outside after that and tested the wiffle ball field to see if it would work for a kickball field. It wouldn't. It wasn't big enough and the yard next to me is not really a yard yet, just wild weeds and grass growing taller and taller every year. The first time I kicked it out we spent a good 15 minutes looking for the ball.

And to the minor amazement from the neighbors out back (who watched us search for the ball the first time), WE DID IT AGAIN! Only this time I also punted a football over there. SHIT!

At about 4 people started to show up. We goofed around out back until we started cooking at about 530.

After dinner the wiffle ball game commenced. You can check out this page for a minor recap. But the two teams ended up tied 5-5 and there was only 1 home run. (the first batter, with me pitching - SHIT)

After we finished with wiffle ball and talking for a while some people left while the others ended up in the living room......playing the Wii.

Until 2 AM!! (see a pattern anywhere?)

Monday was a lazy day for me to do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!! It was AWESOME!

And then back to work on Tuesday, Shit!