Networking for Netflix

Earlier this year my wife was put on bed rest. I thought the best way to keep her in bed would be to put a big screen tv in the bedroom and get another blue ray player. New blue ray players are actually pretty reasonably priced now. I picked my new one up for about $150.00. It also came with a new feature, this blue ray was “net ready.” “Net ready” is actually a pretty cool feature. For this particular brand, it means that the blue ray player can automatically update it’s codecs etc… over the net. It also allows you to watch Netflix and Youtube. Needless to say, I’ve been itching to do this since I got the thing.

I start researching it. I realize that I’m going to have to set up my own network. I’ve never done this before. Sounds like fun. I do my research and find out the type of router that I want to buy. It finally comes time and I buy my router and my wireless usb network card (purchased because Best Buy looked up my blue ray player from my receipt and told me I needed to by a usb network card.) I get it all home and get to work. It’s a Thursday night. I barely touch our pizza because I’m so excited to get this all up and running. I head into the offery (half office half nursery) and get to work.

I go to work on the router first. I get everything ready to go and I turn it on, then my modem goes out. I spend the rest of that night and part of the next morning trying to reestablish any internet connection. I spend Friday at work, thinking of different trouble shooting steps. I think I’ve figured it out and I’m excited to get home and try it. My wife thinks I should just call our ISP. Silly wife. I do all the troubleshooting that I can think of. No matter what I do, I can’t get the modem to work. I can’t reestablish an internet connection. Silly husband eats crow, listens to wife, and finally calls ISP.

I’m on the phone with ISP. I tell their tech that I’ve done this, this, and that. Their tech wants to know if I have unplugged the modem and plugged it back in. Have I done this from both the modem and the wall? Have I checked the cable? Have I disconnected it from the modem and the wall? I inform them that I have done all of these things, numerous times. Tech wants me to do it again, so I stare at my computer for about 30 seconds doing nothing, at which point I tell the tech that I’ve done it again. He then tells me that he will try to send a signal to me again, but it didn’t go through the first time, and if it doesn’t go through this time, he’s pretty sure it’s the modem. Umm…I called telling him that I thought my modem wasn’t working and why I thought it wasn’t working. Now he tells me that he had sent me a signal earlier in the call that I had not received and he didn’t stop to think that maybe I had a problem with my modem then? He didn’t, he had to send the signal twice to figure this out. For those of you that don’t know me very well, I really, really, hate stupid people. Had this tech and I been speaking in person he would have quite easily read my are you $%&@! stupid face. I tell him I will go buy a new modem.

Now the tech is only interested in creating a service appointment to have a tech come and physically check everything. The earliest appointment was 5 days away, which I wouldn’t be able to set because of work. I can only do a Saturday appointment and the first Saturday that was available was 6 weeks away. If you don’t know how this works, it goes something like this; if the tech checks your stuff out and it is determined that it wasn’t anything you did, you aren’t charged for the visit or the repairs. However, if the think it was something you did and can find nothing wrong with their equipment, you get charged like 75 bucks. I’m not having any of that, besides, I wanted it to work now.

I go get my new modem. It is faster than my old one. Woo hoo. Go out to dinner then get home and finally establish an internet connection. I was particular motivated because I pay my bills online and I didn’t want to be late. I’m hooking up the modem and the instructions say to call ISP to get connected. You would have thought that the last tech would have told me this. Call ISP. They offer to send out a tech to make sure that I have everything set up correctly. I tell them to just send the signal. Woo hoo, I have internet again. It’s time to get this router connected.

Start a chat with Cisco. Tell them that I’ve got my router connected to the modem, and it’s connected wirelessly to the PC. That was how I wanted to connected. I’m showing both connections are active and working, however, it’s not pushing the internet to my PC. Cisco guy has me kill the wireless connection set it up with cat 5 and not run start up software. He says that will get it working now, and that I can mess with wireless connection later. Woo hoo, router is working.

Let’s connect wireless card to blue ray. Original plan: Connect blue ray to internet, then switch it with one in family room. I get to the blue ray and there is no USB port. There is a CAT 5 port. It’s 3 AM and I’m no longer interested in paying bills. I check to see if there is a USB to CAT 5 adapter. There is. I resolve to get it working on Saturday now.

I wake up Saturday morning. The wife and I pay bills. I go to best buy. They have an adapter that I can purchase online. I bail. I go where I was told there was a radio shack. There isn’t one. Call the wife.
Jesse: Hey, there is no Radio Shack here.”
Wife: Try over at the mall.
Jesse: (Best Buy at mall) I was just over there. Is there one over here?
Wife: Here’s one. It’s on the other side of the freeway.

I can see across the freeway. Sure enough, there is a Radio shack there. I track all the way around back to the other side of the freeway. Surely radio shack will have one. Two teenage girls are working there. They have no idea what I’m talking about. The suggest this other computer store. The tell me it’s on the wrong side of the street.

Computer store guy has it woo hoo. He wants to know what I’m doing with it. I tell him. He explains to me why it won’t work. Finally, even though it is bad news, I’m happy to be talking to someone that knows what I’m talking about. He sells me CAT 5 and tries to give me tips on how to run it through the wall. I’m sad again. He doesn’t know about construction. I resolve that I will get this to work and that it will be totally cool.

My dad calls and asks for some help moving bricks from Home Depot to his house. My plans are on hold again. Go help dad. It turns out I didn’t have to move any bricks because the couldn’t do what they wanted to do with them. They have to redesign their plans. Visit with them for a while. Go home and leave to go see a movie with a friend. Iron Man 2. It was awesome. Finally get home. Go to bed.

I get up Sunday morning. It’s Mother’s Day. Get ready and go out to lunch with my wife’s family and then we go to my folks. My brother-in-law makes an awesome dinner. I do dishes. My wife tells me that she will let me keep working on the network when I get home. On the way home, she says she wants to take a nap and asks if I’ll watch our baby. I ask her if she wants me to work on the network or take care of the kids. She opts for network. Our oldest isn’t tired, so she comes out to help. Not a whole lot that she can do, so I find something for her to do and set her about her new task. I’m finally making progress. I’ve switched blue ray players, set my rear surround sound speakers at the back of the room on stands. Clean up my entertainment center. I put a hole in the wall and prepare to run the cable. Found out two things, I didn’t make a big enough hole and I needed to put it up higher. My wife had to help. Thank god for her otherwise I would still probably trying to run that cable. Probably not, more than likely there would have just been a much bigger hole in the wall, so thank god for her, otherwise there would probably be a much bigger hole in the wall.

It is all connected and it works. Woo hoo. YouTube and Netflix on a big screen with surround sound, priceless! For everything else, there’s MasterCard!

BACK AND BETTER THAN EVER!!!

Hey All,

I’m back again. I pretty much stopped writing because I was very busy doing things with my girlfriend. To make a long story short she and I broke up a long time ago. She is now happily married and I wish her and hers my best.
It was difficult for a while, but like most people, I just started indulging my interests and examining my life. It’s funny how things work out. I traded D&D in for endless days of golf. I haven’t played for over a year and a half. I still get the itch sometimes, but most of the group has moved away. I’ve been to about a dozen OU games and the biggest and most happy news is I’m now engaged. Our wedding will be May 23rd 2009.

Friends:
Chuck is TDY over seas and working hard to keep our country safe. His wife Becka threw his son Mark a wonderful party for his 2ond birthday. He was nothing but smiles all day long.
Calin and his wife finally got divorced. He has his permanent green card now and met another girl. They lived together for about a year before they decided to break up. He got a job offer in Dallas and moved there a few weekends ago.
Adam and Christen finally got off their butts and saved enough money to move away from Oklahoma. They moved to Oregon on 10/19/08. Christen worked really hard to make the move possible. She flew out to Oregon about a month before they were ready to move. Found them a place to live and got a job. She has already started work and after a few hiccups they finally got their stuff moved in. They still need to buy some new furniture, but that is waiting until Adam gets a job. He hasn’t been slacking. I already got a call from an employer asking me for a reference.
Shane got married and has two kids. He spends the majority of his time doing the husband, daddy, work thing.
Aaron is seriously considering moving out here when he comes out for our wedding. I have to say that I’m happy to hear that.

Family Circus:
Dad had a heart attack and a few surgeries to get that taken care of almost a year ago. We are all thankful that he has recovered. It was a pretty stressful time for our family.
Mom has finally gotten a job as a church secretary out here. I’m glad to see that she is working again.
Other than that they have both been going to church and enjoying their grandchildren. They have two new ones. A new born named Amelia courtesy of Beth and a wonderful little four year old named Kylie courtesy of my soon to be bride.
Beth and Brian are still hanging in there. God only knows how they do it. I think I would lose my mind if I had three kids, but then I ran into an old friend last week who has four kids; then I didn’t feel so bad for Beth and Brian. Beth has also been acting as the wedding planner for Kasey and I. Her help has been a great relief and a blessing.
Bug is getting bigger and bigger every day. He has been enjoying soccer, loves video games, and has been doing great in school. Beth says that he’s been soaking it up like a sponge.
Natty has been learning a lot also. She enjoys playing with her brother and was very excited to tell me that she is now in gymnastics. She is pretty much a girly girl, but has no fear. She can’t wait to go climbing with me. Watching Bug and her reminds me so much of growing up with my sister. It cracks me up.
Amelia, their newest and youngest is pretty much that. She is standing with assistance now and can hold up her head. Other than that she does pretty typical baby stuff. She was exposed to chicken pox and hasn’t been vaccinated. She should start getting sick around Turkey Day if she is going to get them. Keep her in your prayers.

Our House:
My lease on my apartment was running out, so Kasey and I decided to buy a house. We’re all adjusting to our new living situation, it can be a little difficult sometimes, but for the most part everything is going well. Like a fool I was deluding myself into thinking that it was only Kasey and Kylie that were having to adjust. I didn’t think that I was having to adjust to anything until one day. That fateful day I had just gotten home from work and Kasey and Kylie were cuddled up in my recliner, watching cartoons that I didn’t particular want to watch on my TV. The night before, they were playing on my computer and Kylie was climbing around on the back of my computer chair. Kasey had also loaned out a few of my DVDs to her sister. I was perturbed and I went to our room to change out of my work clothes. While I was changing, I realized the big adjustment that I had to make; I had to adjust “my” to “our.” On the lighter side of things I’m really enjoying having a house. I’ve been able to do stuff that I’ve wanted to do for a very long time. I’ve made three benches, watched our TV and listened to the radio as loud as I wanted to without having to worry about disturbing the neighbors etc…It’s been great.
Kasey also loves our house. She’s had several adjustments to make as well. Most of her adjustments have to do with how she’s raising her daughter. They are changes that she has wanted to make for a long time, but is finally getting to make now that we have our own house. She is also having to adjust to having an indoor dog also. Both are going very well for her. Ironically, Kasey had mentioned making Sadie sleep on the floor and not allowing her on the bed or other furniture. Apparently Sadie and her have reached a compromise. Sadie will stay off the furniture most of the time as long as she gets to cuddle in bed at night. Basically, Kasey got cold and called Sadie onto the bed. It was over after that.
Kylie has also been adjusting well. I’ve been very impressed with her. She is a little grumpy in the morning, but other than that has been doing really well. She puts up a little bit of a fight eating dinner, but Kasey sticks to her guns and ultimately Kylie eats. She has been finding out that she likes different things which is good for her. She has also been getting used to Sadie. Her biggest complaint is the smell of Sadie’s breath. She has enjoyed playing hide and seek, using Sadie to find her mom and I when it’s her turn to count. Hours of fetch in the back yard, and most days will not leave for school in the morning until she has told Sadie goodbye and pet her head a few times.
Sadie has been having the easiest time of all. She has been eating better and been more energetic. She has been behaving very well and she is starting to lay down at my feet when we eat dinner. Other than the bed, she has been staying off the furniture unless she has been invited up. I do have the sneaking suspicion that she cuddles up on the couch when we leave for work, I just haven’t been able to prove it. She loves having her back yard and being able to bark whenever she wants. She’s made a new friend with one of the neighbors dogs and loves playing chase with him in the front yard. She has also been tearing up and down one side of the back yard along the fence taking turns barking at different dogs belonging to different neighbors.

All in all, things are going really well. The stress of finding a house is out of the way, but somehow it seems that we are just as busy planning for the holidays and planning for a wedding.

The Wedding:
Best Man: Adam Baker
Groomsmen:
Matt
Chuck
Aaron
Brian

The wedding planning has been going pretty well. We’ve got a church and thought we had a preacher, but apparently that fell through, so we are in the market again. We’ve paid for a reception hall, and still owe 350 on it and for 250 we’ve got a band lined up to play at our reception. We still have a ton of stuff to do. We are going to a bridal show tonight. I realize that I wrote stuff in the past about weddings. Now that I’m actually doing one, I take it all back. The more money we spend and the more time and energy spent planning it the more I just want to pack it all in and elope. On the flip side I’m sure that it all be worth it when the time comes. I very thankful that Kasey hasn’t turned into a bridezilla…

Sadie’s Corner:
I love my new house and family. I could spend hours running around in the back yard or playing with my new friend. I’ve got a girl now and she plays with me. My biggest dilemma is who I should follow around the house.

Woof for now,
Sadie

Commentary:
Back to my favorite radio station, KJ103 (102.7); TJ, Janet, and JRod in the Morning brought up another interesting topic. This man’s wife called in saying that she was good friends with her husband’s best friend’s wife. She stated that her husband and his best friend were at there house talking one night and that she overheard the best friend tell her husband that he was cheating on his wife. She wanted to know what she should do. Should she tell her good friend? Should she talk to her husband? The DJs made some very good points, and ultimately I agree with them that she needs to talk to her own husband. She said that she was upset that her husband hadn’t come to her about it.
I think that first of all, new of that sort is always potentially relationship ending news. Not only could a marriage possibly fail because of it, but it could also ruin friendships. Even if it turns out that the guy was not cheating the friendships could all still end.
First of all I had a problem with some of the missing information. The wife stated that she had overheard this. To me that pretty much equates to she was walking by the room they were in and heard the best friend say “I’m cheating on my wife.” If she heard any more than that, enough to know that he really was cheating and he wasn’t recounting a tale, the wife was eavesdropping not overhearing.
So, if she overheard him say that talking to her husband could confirm weather or not he was recounting a tale such as: “Man I was at work the other day and my partner came up to me and just flat out said, I’m cheating on my wife.” If she heard the conversation go something like this and was eavesdropping “I don’t know what to do bro, I’m cheating on my wife.” It is apparent to me that there is a trust issue in the relationship already which could account for the husband not telling his wife. In the first situation the husband might not have thought that it was important to tell the wife.
For arguments sake, lets pretend that the wife had accidentally overheard enough of the conversation to know for sure that the best friend had been cheating on his wife. What are some other reasons that her husband might not have told her about it? 1. It’s her friend that is being cheated on. Maybe he doesn’t want to put his wife in an awkward position. 2. Maybe he’s still chewing it over and doesn’t know what he thinks about it or what course of action he thinks should be taken and doesn’t want to talk to his wife about it until he does.
My point is that it really is a good idea to talk to the husband. Possible implications of talking to the friend could be that not only has she betrayed her husbands best friend’s trust, but her husband’s trust. Ultimately they should decide on the right course of action to take together because they are both risking the loss of friends by what ever course of action that they choose.
I’d want to know if I were the friend. If I found out that I was being cheated on and that one of my friends knew about it and didn’t tell me that would end the friendship. If they did tell me, I might be mad at them for a while, but eventually I’d get over it. Even if they were wrong, I’d still be mad, but eventually I’d realize that they were being a friend. If I didn’t believe them, that would be on me and eventually I’d reconcile with my friend. I think if they end their friendship with you because you are the messenger, then they aren’t a real friend anyway.

Until next time…

Snow Day

My Life:

Well things are going pretty well. My company came through and I got my paycheck. Wooo hooo.

Commentary:

It snowed last night. There is always something refreshing about snow. A pristine blanket of white covering everything, then Sadie peed in it. Ha, that just reminds me not to eat the yellow snow. I was born in North Dakota and lived in Washington for a few years. Snow was a part of my life. I looked forward to having it to play in every winter. Then we moved to California. My mother actually has a recording of me crying and sing how much I missed the snow and that I hated California because there was no snow in California. This apparently happened in the middle of December when my parents told me that it would only rain.
That year we started making an annual trip to the mountains for a day in the snow. Occasionally it would last longer. We missed a year here and there, but for the most part always went even if it was for just an afternoon. As we got older My attitude changed to hey this is great. We don’t have to have any of the inconvieniances of snow and could go back to it when we wanted to play in it. I loved CA.
A few years later, I moved to the mountains. It was so nice to have four seasons again. I was so excited to have snow. That winter was a tough one. I didn’t really own any snow boots or pants or anything. I spent most of that winter cold and wet or drying off and warming up. It was the first time that I had to deal with snow as an adult. It wasn’t something that I was able to play in any longer. It left puddles on my floor and tracked all through my place. It made the roads hazardous to drive on. It made your nice clothes messy on your way to work. It would melt onto the sidewalks and streets during the day so that you would slip on the ice at night. My first winter as an adult was a tough one to say the least.
The next winter I was discouraged and hoping that it wouldn’t snow. However, I had prepared myself with jackets and snow pants and boots. I had a blast when the snow finally came. I played and had a snowball fight with friends. Then I went home and left my boots by my door so I wouldn’t track it all over my place and changed out of my snow clothes and watched TV and had something to eat. I thought, this is going to suck tomorrow. I had learned much from that first season in the snow. I had clothes that were made for it. I left my snow boots by the door. I learned that with chains I could only drive 25 mph and that with out chains I was still fine if I drove 25 mph, but I didn’t have to get out of my car. Yes, I even learned how to walk on the ice. It’s kind of like getting your “sea legs” once you get them, you get them back pretty quickly.
That winter and every winter in the mountains since was great. I loved snow again. Then I moved to Oklahoma. I was expecting fantastic winters here. I haven’t gotten one yet. They sure are different though. They can be brutally cold, so I’ve heard. What I’ve experianced is entirely different. When we get snow it doesn’t last that long. Just enough to through some snowballs at Sadie and play for a little while, then most of it melts. My snow gear still comes into good use. I haven’t seen enough snow hear to make a snowman without having to clear a field to do it. There isn’t enough to jump off a 10’ porch and land without getting hurt. I miss those things, but I’m still thankful when we get snow. At least here we get some.
These are the first years that I’ve had to deal with snow in a city though. Things are a little different from the mountains. You have people that try to drive like the ground is warm while it’s covered with snow and ice. You have to be careful around these people because the eventually wreck and you don’t want to be involved in it. Also if something happens and you lose control you are more likely to hit something that isn’t a tree. On the bright side you are also less likely to slide of the side of a cliff here. All and all I would love a week or two of Yosemite snow 5’ of some good old fashioned Sierra Cement.

Men vs. Women:

Talking: Chris Rock said in one of his comedey segments that “Women don’t want men to talk, talk, talk, they want us to listen, listen, listen. All women want men to do is ask the right questions so that they can run their mouths.” It sounds bad in print, but it was actually pretty humourous on the radio.

Anyway, I have learned that men and women do look at talking differently. My girlfriend told me that we never talk anymore. I’m thinking “what is she talking about, we talked last night?” Her other one is that I don’t spend enough time with her, and she says this after I spend all day with her for two days in a row. She always says “Jess I know you think I’m crazy, but that is just how I feel.” I always told her that of course she wasn’t crazy, all the while thinking she was in the back of my mind.
Men: Men view talking and time very literally. If I spent 16 hours a day with a woman two days in a row, I have spent a lot of time with her. I have spent almost as much time with her in two days as I did at work all week. Talking, if we spent half an hour talking then we talked for half an hour. If we spend 4 hours debating where we want to go for dinner, then we just talked for 4 hours and we talked.
Women: Women have a very different and I feel, subjective view of talking and time. Guys listen up and pay attention here: For a woman, any and all time spent with her while she is not the center of your undivided attention does not count as time spent with her. In addition, any talking during this time, does not count as talking unless you are talking about something relativly deep while she is the center of your attention. In other words guys, women view time as time that she is receiving your undivided attention and talk as talking about a topic. For example: What was your favorite childhood memory? Or When did you realize that you felt inadiquit about your appearance? The thing that most men dread and women always want to know is very important in the female version of talking. How does/did that make you feel? Yes guys, you have to talk about your feelings.
We view talking about feelings differently: Men usually never say I feel, we say the situation and infer that anyone we are talking to will know how we feel, they may even pick it up from the tone of our voice or the words we use to describe the situation. Women talk about feelings the way men talk about situations. Another major difference is when we talk about situations. Women say: I had/have this situation and it makes me feel sooo (pick a feeling or a few feelings, heck with it select a slew of feelings and insert here) All they want to hear in a reply is I understand. That’s it, maybe give an example of a similar situation that happened to you so they don’t feel so alone.
Men talk about situations wanting advice on what to do or wanting affirmation that they had done the right thing. No feelings. No understanding. Options and affirmation, that is all we want.
I have always loved psychology. I have known that men talk about problems for advice and women just want to know they are understood and supported and loved since I was in middle school. This is the weird part, now ladies pay attention, the first thing that pops in my mind when my gf tells me a problem is to give her advice. I don’t even realize that I’m doing it. We are going to try her reminding me just to support/understand to see how it works. I already know that I’m going to have trouble not advising her though. It feels like it’s incomplete with out advice, men talk about problems to solve them, not to share the experience etc….So women, please be patient with your men, try to give them gentle reminders. We have to go against our natural state of being to do this and we have to learn how.

The Differences:

I hate to tell Oklahoman’s this, but I have finally found something that they have in common with Californians from the “Valley”. Niether of them know how to drive in snow. You have one of three people in both states. People that actually know how to drive in the snow, people that think because they have 4wd that they can do 80 in the snow, and people that can drive 20 on a completely dry hwy because the weather man said there might be snow. This is the way it works: The 20mph hold up the people that can drive meanwhile the 80mph rear end the can drive people because they lose control when they have to slow down in snow and ice. It’s the same way every where you go.
I guess that bad drivers are common anywhere you go. I’ve seen Californians in the South Bay and Oklahomans slow down to 20 mph for fog during the day time that limits your visibility less then if you had been driving at night with out fog. There is always a 16 yo who thinks they are invincible driving wrecklessly who gets themselves in a wreck and gets killed, always a drunk driver who, if they don’t run into a minivan killing an entire family they destroy the family by killing a member of it. There is always a little old man or lady that shouldn’t be driving any more because they are too old, they can’t see that well, their reaction times have slowed etc…and darn people who talk on the cell phone while they drive. Family Circus:Nothing to report today.Sadie’s Kennel:

Today Jesse took me outside to use the restroom. I was so excited to see that it had snowed. I went to the bathroom right away so I could get to playing. Jesse threw snowballs for me and dropped handfulls of it on me. I chaced snow balls until they dissappeard or melted in my mouth. I had such a good time. I love the snow and I wish I could play in it more. Jesse and I have such a good time. I have figured out that I can get up on the furniture when Jesse isn’t home. He hasn’t thought of a way to stop that yet. Wooof HoooofJ. Until next time, WOOF!!!!

Another Day Another, What No Dollars???!@#$

My Life:

Well, I haven’t smoked all year. You might not think that this is a large accomplishment, however I have smoked for 11 years and I’ve only had one cigarette since Oct 20th 2005. I still get cravings, but they are getting few and far between. They pretty much only happen when I am stressed or forget my patch.
In other news my company has started using a new pay system. Unfortunately for us employees most of our checks are wrong. Short to the tune of hundreds of dollars per employee is not a good thing. However, I have the utmost confidence that my employer will rectify this error for all of us by pay day and the only unconvinced at a foreseeable possibility is that I will have to come in and pick it up, that it won’t be direct deposit.
In other news: My girlfriend is now domesticating me. For the first time in my life I think I’m actually looking forward to buying some more lamps, pillows, curtains, and some frames for my apartment. This makes me happy though, it gives me an excuse to buy a drill with some screwdriver attachments. My apartment is shaping up rather nicely. Sometimes I think that it’s starting to turn into a Hobbit Hole. HAHAHAHA.

Commentary:

In today’s commentary we’ll talk about the holidays. This is the first time in my life that I’ve had a girlfriend during the holidays. It is a huge difference from the single way. First let me tell you what my holidays used to be like.
Single: Thanksgiving I would roll out of bed take a shower and head to my parents or sisters house. Usually pick up a pie or soda or something on the way there. Then I’d stuff my face. Lounge around, eat again, then repeat until I was ready to pack up some left overs and go home.
Christmas: Was similar to Thanksgiving accept add presents. I always felt ripped off because I ended up spending more money and only got things from couples/families. To: Jesse From: The Smith Family. I gave 4 presents and I only got one???
Couple: Thanksgiving. I had two. One with my family and one with hers. Plus left overs from two places, I felt so spoiled.
Christmas: I finally got to stick it to the man. I was a couple now and gave presents as one. Plus it makes shopping so much easier when you have a female eye helping you pick out presents for the women in your life.
Holidays as a couple is soooo much more busy. You do all the couple things. I put up my first tree. It turned out pretty good too. When ever I wanted to do something, I had to ask “Honey may I?” and she’d say “No we’ve got to do this…” Then I’d say how about this night and she’d say we were doing something with her family, then I’d ask about the next night, and she’d say we were going out with friends, so I’d ask about the night after that and she’d say we would be with my family, and I’d say we could just skip that and she’d yell “Jesse, we can’t skip out on your family.” And I’d say “ok, darn it.” The long and short of it is that is was much busier. I felt like I was going nonstop for about a month or so. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Men vs. Women:

My girlfriend read about the t-shirt thing I wrote yesterday. She said that she was cracking up. Hahaha…I am a pretty funny fellow aren’t I? As I happen to be attending one on Saturday, let’s talk about weddings.
Women want a wedding to be all pretty. Have beautiful flowers and pretty colors and rituals that they would like to attribute meaning to...(like the lighting of the Unity Candle with out blowing out the other two candles or with blowing them out.) They want ushers, and bridesmaids and a church and a preacher and all this stuff. I can’t blame them as they have been planning on it a lot longer then us men.
Men want a wedding to be fun quick and easy. All I need is a preacher, witness, and a ring. I don’t care where it is, I’d prefer to wear jeans to it. I think my ideal wedding would be by a sea captain while on a cruise. I do recognize a responsibility for my family and her family to be there. I’m actually more concerned with having a raging bachelor party. Then the wedding ceremony. All I need to know is that “She does” and “I do” put rings on each others finger and recognize that we are united under god. None of this Unity Candle thing. I could really care less about a flower girl, or ring bearer. Although I think it would be sooo funny to dress up the ring bearer like a little hobbit. I just checked: Hobbits as ring bearers are definitely out even if she gets a Unity Candle.
Receptions: I haven’t seen to many differing opinions on receptions. I think everyone agrees that it should be a big party. However, I don’t think a dance with everyone blowing bubbles around you is needed. Let the booze flow, the dj spin, everybody eat drink, dance and have cake. I do think there are a few must haves: Alcohol, food, a DJ, Cake, a money dance, first dance, father/daughter and mother/son dance. But other than that it should be cheap and fun.

The Differences:

Nothing to report today.

Family Circus:

Nothing to report today.

Sadie’s Kennel:

I am so sneaky. I’m not allowed on the furniture any longer, so when Jesse leaves I get up on his futon, then before he gets back in the door I get off again. For bed time, I wait until he falls asleep then I climb up ever so softly on the bed and make sure not to touch him. If I touch him he wakes up and tells me to get off, then I have to repeat the process. Anyway, I have to get off before he wakes up, but this morning he caught me. Wish me luck.

I'm BAAAAAaaaaack

My Life:

Well. I know it’s been a long while since I have written. I’ve got a girlfriend now. I lost my mobile, started home service then got another mobile. Now I’m getting ready to cancel my home service and internet. I was working 1-midnight 4 days per week, now I’m working 1030-730p 5 days per week. I received a promotion and am no longer a rep. Survived my first set of holidays with a girlfriend, I was shocked and amazed with how much a couple has to put up with.

Commentary:

So I now have a girlfriend. She is great. Guys, I have a little piece of advice for you. Everyone will always tell you that men, know nothing about women. I am here to say that again. Like every bachelor, I thought I had all the answers. I even knew from classes and books that women were emotional fighters not logical ones. Our first argument was over “time.” I thought that because she was telling me she felt a certain way that all I had to do was validate her feelings and then we could move on to the more reasonable logic of it all. Boy was I wrong. Guys, never, ever, under no circumstances, send the women in your life a spreadsheet to show your logic. Just don’t do it. I have learned since that you have to argue feelings with feelings. To date I have to say that this is the most uncomfortable “feeling” in the world. There is nothing worse than having to say the dreaded two word phrase “I Feel” while arguing or debating something. It’s like nails on a chalk board. You would think that the very fabric of space in time would tear when mentioning “I feel” where logic and reason should preside. Regardless of that, you must learn to argue in this way and sneak the logic in where you can. If you are ever faced with this problem in the future, just repeat to yourself over and over and over again “I know nothing about women.” Just concede now, that you are going to have to talk about feelings and even how you feel. Once you realize these important facts your life will be much better. I’m not saying you will ever be the correct one while arguing again, just that you might as well accept it as you have death and taxes. (Honey, if you are reading this, this is in no way intended to be disparaging to you or your emotions or our argument in any way.)

Men Vs. Women

Wants and needs and underwear: Ok. So I have some real old T-shirts. They are usually worn under your shirt in order to protect it. I only ever wear just a t-shirt at home. So they might be a little old. A hole hear and there. They might be discolored and even not fit that well, but they are worn under other shirts, so why does it matter. Women think that they should be pristine white, fit, and have no holes. If it doesn’t meet those conditions then you “need” new t-shirts. Men think that if it still protects my shirt then it doesn’t matter what it looks like. I don’t “need” new ones. I can get something else that I want, like DVDs or some other toy type thing. I have recently received some new t-shirts. I have to admit that even though I don’t think I “needed” them. I feel more comfortable wearing them than my old ones, but I’ll never admit that I needed it…

The Differences:

In California When there is cloud cover it’s usually dreary all day. In Oklahoma you can usually see blue sky on the horizon where the cloud cover ends. The awesome thing about this is that even when there are clouds over your head all day long you can usually see an awesome sunset at the end of the day.

Family Circus:

Well Beth and Brian have survived another Christmas trying to appease two families. Much to his parents dismay, my girlfriend and I bought Bug a drum set. We gave Natty a doll. They both love there presents. Brian worked very hard to give something special to Beth. I don’t know how that turned out. I need to ask.

My parents are still adjusting to Oklahoma. Oddly enough my mother stepped into the backyard in slippers and a bathrobe to let her dog out. It was cold. Her first thought was “Why should I put up with this when I can be in California where it’s warm year round.” Hahahaha. Anyway, her and my father are still working very diligently on there house and have made some awesome changes. There house should keep them very busy for a while at any rate.

Sadie’s Kennel:

Well another year as come and gone. I’m 4 years old now. Jesse thinks that as I get older I’ll settle down some. Little does he know…hehehe. For the longest time it was just him and me and I was allowed on all the furniture I wanted to be on. Now that he has a girlfriend I’m having to learn to stay on the floor. The good news is Jesse said he was going to buy me my very own dog bed. I’m looking forward to that. I got to see my grandma and grandpa yesterday and play loads of fetch. I had such a great time. Until next time…Woof.



Well, my friends it is time to leave you once again and I hope to write sooner this time. Hope you enjoy the latest installment.

Peace,
Jesse

Christians Unite

Social Commentary First…
Ok. A small group of parents are suing a school district because they are presenting creationism along with evolution in their children’s school. They are calling creationism something else but the idea is still the same, that some things on earth are to complex to have just happened, that they had to have been created by a supreme being.
The parents are suing on the basis that the school board is trying to sneak religion and personal beliefs into a school. Dictionary.com defines religion as follows: “A cause, principle, or activity pursued with zeal or conscientious devotion.” Wouldn’t you say that suing a school board in a federal court to actively enforce the teaching of the theory of evolution and only evolution in school is pursuing a cause or principle with zeal and conscientious devotion? I would. Therefore, evolution is a religion. You could also say the same thing about a math or science teacher who really enjoys and is excited about teaching his subject. Lets face it people, there is knowledge and disciplines that take to much time and or brain power than an average person has to comprehend in both of those subjects. The guy flipping hamburgers at a Burger King might not understand how a rocket works, but they know it does, right? It’s the same way with any religion. They can’t prove evolution, they can’t prove creationism, but according to Dictionary.com they are both religions. Why should one or the other get any special treatment in our public schools?
Let’s face it. Any school, and any parent with a semblance of intelligence should encourage that they both taught with equal emphasis and as little bias as possible. The parents, (you guys still remember what parents are right? That’s right, the people that actually brought the children into this world, not the TV.) should continue to educate their children towards their own particular bent. In other words, if a parent is a Christian they should educate their children on why evolution is wrong, how to debate the falsity of evolution based on their new found knowledge of the subject etc…If the parents are evolutionists they would be responsible for doing the same things concerning evolution. There are some strong advantages to having been taught both subjects. 1. Being able to argue pro or con for either religion, will strengthen ones position in their current beliefs as well as, train one in logic. It also teaches tolerance, which sad to say, is almost devoid in society today. Teach them both, or don’t teach either of them.
Ultimately, I think that this is a pathetic attempt to discriminate and revive bigotry and direct it towards Christians. The State of Utah allows Seminary (a class for Mormons, that to the best of my understanding is like Sunday School for Protestant Christians, or Catechism for Catholics.) to be instructor lead course and allow it to be taught in there schools. I’ve also heard that some states allow Catechism to be taught in the same way. This is happening at public schools. However, the only Christian activities that I’ve heard of being allowed in public schools must be extracurricular and student led. If this isn’t religious discrimination, I don’t know what is. Are Christian ideas really that threatening to nonbelievers that even when trying to introduce a widely accepted Christian and in this case also Muslim concept such as Creation into our schools that parents try to sue the school to have it removed. Schools even call Creationism by a different name, and remove words like God and Creator, and replace them with Supreme Being. Non Christians still are running around like chickens with there heads cut off screaming about the Constitution and mindless chanting “separation of church and state” while simultaneously and surreptitiously maintaining their ignorance in believing that such a phrase actually exists in the Constitution. I would also like to remind everyone at this time that the phrase “separation of church and state” does not exist anywhere in our Constitution.
I don’t think that Christians should take this lying down any longer. When I went to school I was taught both Creationism and Evolution in my 9th grade biology class. Unfortunately, the instructor only spent a day on Creationism and then spent about a week on evolutionism. He did his students a great disservice by chastising students that believed in creationism, and not spending equal time on both subjects. He didn’t provide his students with the information necessary to make an informed decision and obviously behaved in such a biased manner that most of his students could see right through him. In 10th grade, world history, we learned about all manner of religions, and belief systems including Muslimism, Taoism, and Buddhism. We learned about mythological gods and their belief systems and followers in lit classes, but with all this being taught to us, Christianity was left out. I think that it is time for Christians of the United States to unite in order to achieve one of two ends. Either remove any religion from public schools (which is unrealistic because like it or not there will always be math and science) or demand equal time for Christianity to be taught, demand equal opportunity for students to learn the belief systems of Christianity, that our children are educated with as much information as possible to make there own decisions regarding faith. Don’t allow Christian children to be robbed of learning about their faith at the expense of tax prayers; they already have to learn about the faiths of others. Christians unite, tell your local school board that you want Christianity taught in our schools, that you want Christianity to receive equal time and taxpayer dollars to be taught as other religions are being taught. Write your congressman and the President of the United States and tell them that you like having “In God We Trust” written on our currency, and that you love that the Pledge of Allegiance contains the phrase “One nation under God.” Don’t sit down any longer. Act out for your Faith, your beliefs, and your God.


Due to the weight of this message, my blog will not contain any of my usual segments or commentaries today.

Phobias

As defined by Dictionary.com: Phobia- n : an anxiety disorder characterized by extreme and irrational fear of simple things or social situations; "phobic disorder is a general term for all phobias.”

The other night curiosity lured me to an investigation of phobias on the net. Did you know that there are over six hundred phobias? They range in everything from: Ablutophobia-a fear of washing and or bathing to Zoophobia-a fear of animals. At first glance I found most of the phobias to be rather amusing. Then I thought about it, and basically someone with a phobia will do just about anything to avoid that phobia. Don’t believe me? Turn on a daytime talk show sometime where they are trying to cure phobias. I saw a lady run away from a jar of peanut butter.

After a little thought I’ve come to the conclusion that you will probably be ok if you are Lachanophobic which is the fear of vegetables, because you can still eat meat. You can even be Carnophobic, fearing meat. You’d still probably turn out ok eating vegetables. However if you have Sitophobia or Sitiophobia- Fear of food or eating. (Cibophobia) you’re screwed. I also figure that you could have Somniphobia- Fear of sleep and still turn out ok. Unless you started using crank to stay awake. Eventually you’ll pass out from exhaustion and get some sleep.

I did think that someone with Xanthophobia- Fear of the color yellow would be amusing until I thought about it a little more. You wouldn’t be driving anywhere during the day because, you guessed it, school busses are yellow, the sun is yellow. You probably wouldn’t drive at all because of those yellow lights at intersections. So you would think about moving somewhere rural with no school or traffic lights, and you only hope that this new community can’t afford to paint yellow lines on the road, but guess what, you can’t use the yellow pages to find a realtor.

What about a job? Well you can pretty much rule out anything with computers, as several popular systems have yellow in the icons. A lot of systems also use yellow to highlight your place on the screen. So you finally find a job that doesn’t involve computers or any sort of hazard where yellow signs my define areas of caution and you go to take a break and drink a nice cold bottle of Pepsi or Mountain Dew. Much to your horror you get to the vending machine only to find that Pepsi Co is having a promotion that involves marking there sodas with yellow bottle caps. Now you have to drink out of a can.

You get off of work and decide that you would like breakfast for dinner. I hope you are an egg whites only type of person and IHOP is out of the question because, you guessed it, their omelets are yellow. Orange juice is out of the question. Now you’re probably saying that “Orange Juice?” Don’t let the name fool you, it’s yellow.

The good news is that you will probably always be very hydrated because you wouldn’t want to run the risk that your urine is yellow. You can’t watch TV unless it’s black and white. Can’t go to the zoo because they might feed the monkeys some bananas. The bad new is that you can’t even listen to the radio. The DJ may announce the next song being played is by the group Yellow Card. That’s right. Another bad part about being Xanthophobic is the fear of the word Yellow written or spoken.

The irony in all of this is that a synonym for cowardice and fear is yellow.


Sadie’s Kennel:
Well all is happy on the home front. I’m shedding like crazy, but I don’t mind because it means that I get brushed an extra time each day. My grandma and grandpa live in OK now. My grandpa came and saw me, but my grandma hasn’t. I think I’ll bite her the next time that I see her.
Till next time, woof,
Sadie

Family Circus:
Well my parents have moved to OK. They arrived at 2am to find their house on fire. The good new is that they hope to be moving in at the end of this week. Meanwhile my mom and dad are taking great joy in living with my sister and having access to their grand kids 24/7.
Beth and her blessed bleeding heart has temporarily taken in another unfortunate soul. I should have known that this was going to happen. She was always trying to take in strays as a kid. My prayers are with her and her’s.
Brain has been having to live with my parents for a little over a month now. Poor guy. I’ve been praying double for him…lol
Natty is walking now and growing more beautiful every day. Much to my amusement she turns a little green when Beth give her affections to a child other than her.
Bug has been enjoying all the attention from his grandparents he gets smarter and stronger every day.


Good Times,
Jesse