A Man and His Dog

Networking for Netflix

2010-05-13T13:40:00.003-05:00

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!!!

2008-11-25T17:49:00.001-06:00

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

2006-01-10T17:19:00.000-06:00

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???!@#$

2006-01-04T16:39:00.000-06:00

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

2006-01-03T16:38:00.000-06:00

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

2005-09-26T19:35:00.000-05:00

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

2005-07-21T18:07:00.000-05:00

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

We Were On A Break

2005-05-12T10:50:00.000-05:00

Commentary:
A friend and I were talking about the “Friends” legacy. My friend said, “If you want to see a big fight put four men and four women in a room and say “We were on a break”.” It’s true. Men and women think differently, and this is yet one more example.
When a woman tells a man she wants a break it means: She has found another pony that she wants to ride, and she wants to keep us on the hook in case it doesn’t work out. In other words she is breaking up with us. We think this because that is what it means when we say it.
According to most women I know this is rarely the case. It usually means that they want some time apart so that they can think things over. Here is another problem with in our communication. If this is what women mean, this is what women should say. Then even if they said this, I don’t think most men are going to hang around hoping that the woman decides in favor of us.
My friend and I both agree that if a woman ever told one of us that we were on a break, then we ourselves are done. With one exception: if we haven’t found someone new by the time she decides to come back and we are still head over heals for her then we might take her back, but it will never be the same. The trust is already gone, and she will be nothing more than temporary physical fulfillment until we find someone new.

All About Me:
Well I think my air conditioner is not working again. That is twice in 1 year. Last time they had to replace the unit, so I got a new one. Hopefully I’ll just need to have it charged. My sister has finally got under way for her little mini vacation, so I’ll be spending the next few nights at her house. Sadie and Panzer will be having a blast, and lucky me is going to try and mow my sisters front and back yard, then my parents front and back yard. Wooo hooo…. I’ve got next Thursday and Friday off. Thursday to see Star Wars Episode III, and Friday my friend Matt should be arriving. Good times.

Family Circus:
Beth: Well Beth and the kids finally got the car out of the shop and are underway. They are having a little mini vacation in Tulsa while Brian is up there working. Poor Brian. Beth is real excited to take advantage of the hotel pool, and even more excited that her in-laws are springing for a baby sitter so they can all go out. Beth stressed to me the importance of “going out without kids”

Brian: Extremely excited about Episode III coming out.

TJ: Well he has got a new job. He hasn’t quite made up his mind about liking it or not. He’s also very excited about Star Wars.

Sadie’s Kennel:
Jesse gave me a handful of popcorn last night. I love popcorn. Then I sat and gave him “the look” until he gave me some more. My paw is better so I’ve been taking Jesse on his walks twice per day again. Sometimes I wonder what he’d do if I wasn’t there to walk him. He said something about a surprise for me this week. I wonder what it is.

Good Times,
Jesse

Bumper Stickers

2005-04-29T18:56:00.000-05:00

What shall I write about today? I could write about President Bush’s speech from last night, or the popes death, but I don’t think I will. I had another shocking realization the other day about women, but I can’t remember what it was or I’d write about it. Stupid Bumper Stickers, now this is a topic worth writing about.
So sometime last my buddy and I are hanging out and he asks me how I’d feel about chipping in with him in having a few hundred bumper stickers made. They would read “Bigot” to be placed on anything bearing a Confederate Flag. He wanted to make another one that said something else to combat yet another type of bumper sticker, but I can’t remember what it said. I pointed out that having a Confederate Flag doesn’t have to mean racism. It could just mean they really liked the Dukes of Hazzard. His idea was to spend a Saturday driving through mall parking lots looking for people that have bumper stickers like the Confederate Flag and place our “Bigot” bumper sticker over most of it. I have to admit it sound like fun, but I wasn’t really committed to spending time and money on it.
However later in the week I saw a bumper sticker that read “Equal Rights for Unborn Women.” I can’t believe that someone can have such an utter lack of intelligence that they would postulate that abortion is sexually discriminating against women. My first thoughts were to get bumper stickers made that read “Stop Abortions; Kill Women” I had a few ideas, then I was going to drive in front of her on the way to work. Then I decided that I like my friends idea. Our plan is now to make bumper stickers that read “Censored for Stupidity” and place them on peoples cars.
I have heard that some states are trying to outlaw offensive language and bumper stickers. I have heard that some states have. There was a case back east were kids were fined for using foul language. It is my utmost belief that the freedom of speech protects both of them. It is my firm belief that freedom of speech makes this country worth fighting for. However, when this was written not many people used offensive language and there was no such thing as a bumper sticker. I think it was referring more to having opposing ideas such as Pro-life/Pro-choice. I don’t think that we should make laws with regards to foul language or bumper stickers as this takes away ones freedom to be offensive. It would also make this little bumper sticker vandalism idea a moot point, and it just sounds soooo Fun.

Understanding Men:
This is a growing epidemic among women. Let me set the scene for you. A man and his wife (gf) whatever are driving. The guy is quiet and then those dreaded words come “Honey, what are you thinking about?” Firstly if we felt like talking about what we were thinking about then wouldn’t we be talking about it? However that is not my point. The problem is that look of shock, disgust, dismay, etc…on the females face when we tell them. Ladies you know what I’m talking about, don’t deny it. I don’t know why it is, but it always seems like when men are quiet, the women in their lives like to think that men are thinking of new applications for Einstine’s Theories, hiding something from them, etc…
Here is the truth ladies, 99% of the time we are thinking about sex, something we need to do (like an oil change), or something stupid (like I wonder if I can make a light sabor). Now here is the thing. Men have experienced these looks of shock and dismay, and we have learned to lie about what we are thinking in order to avoid them, or we say “nothing.” “Nothing” is sort of a half truth. What we should really say is “Nothing that we think you’ll find important.” We don’t because then we get that age old argument “who are you to decide what I will and won’t find important?” Ladies, it’s not that we are trying to tell you what to think, it’s just that we know from experience that the odds are not in our favor that women will find what we happen to be thinking about to be important. We are guys, we rarely think about relationships, or how to improve them with few exceptions. Namely if we are thinking about a relationship it’s usually for something about sex ie how can I get more sex out of this relationship, or where do we still need to have sex (location), or how the hell can I get out of this relationship. How many women care about Star Wars, or Star Trek, or GI Joe, or the newest gun, computer, stereo speaker, (toys) etc…
So ladies beware, if you ask a man what he is thinking, don’t be surprised to get sex or GI Joe as your answer.

Family Circus:
Me:
Well I’ve been working a lot. It turns out that I owe the Oklahoma a little over a grand in taxes because my employer stop withholding for OK. My friend Matt is finally coming to visit next month.

Parents:
They are moving here on June 1st. Please keep them in your prayers.

The Hecks:
Brian enlisted the help of TJ and I to surprise my sister Beth for her Birthday. It worked. I’ll tell you about it next time.

Sadie’s Kennel:
Well I couldn’t go for walks the last few days because I skinned my paw. It hurt and Jesse had to cut off the flapper. I also have the sneaking suspicion that Jesse will be taking me to the vet for shots soon. I hate shots. I can’t wait for the weekend, because my paw feels much better, I have a lot of play time to make up.

Nic Dreams

2005-03-09T08:51:00.000-06:00

For those of you that don’t know me, I’m really into dreams and their interpretation. Psychology has to main views on dreams: 1. That all dreams are relevant and have an interpretation. 2. Dreams are random firings of synapses while you sleep and your brain tries to put these random firings into some something recognizable. 3. That dreams just try to resolve anything that was left unresolved in your day. 4. Precognizant Dreams.

Personally, I think that they are all right. I think that some dreams have meaning, others should just be dismissed as your brain trying to make sense of random firing of synapse or of your day, some tell the future, some are just because you left the TV or radio on. I think that it is up to the person to figure out which dreams are which.

My dreams have always been in color. I usually dream in the third person/1st person at the same time. If it’s 1st person only it’s a Precognizant dream. 1st/3rd at the same time are usually for interpretation and 3rd only is usually strictly for entertainment (brain trying to make sense of random things.) That is usually how dreams work for me. I have never flown in my dreams although, I have taxied an F15 down a runway while under fire. I have been James Bond. I have fallen and hit the ground and lived to tell about it. In all fairness, I probably would have lived to tell about had it happened to me in real life. I even have sex dreams. Only for me they should be called make out dreams. I never get to have sex in them just get a handful of booty and some good kissen. Just when it starts getting good I wake up or my alarm goes off etc…Damn it!!! I can’t even get laid when I dream. I would now like to add a new dream category, the Nicoderm Dream. Nicoderm is a stop smoking aid, a nicotine patch worn on the skin in order to help reduce cravings when you’ve quit smoking. These dreams tend to be very vivid. Kind of like a Quinton Tarentino Film. I haven’t decided if these are to be interpreted yet. I haven’t tried to interpret any of them. I just dismiss them out of hand has a Nic dream.

So last night I had this Nic Dream. It was pretty strange. I was in my bed and my legs were hanging over the end. My bed was facing my couch only about a foot away from it. My TV was on. Two of my friends from my training class were sitting on the couch. The girl went through a divorce recently and the guy is happily married with a beautiful wife. Next thing I know they start kissing and grabbing up on each other. I was acting like I was asleep hoping that they would just leave. I heard her say “What about Jesse?” He said “Don’t worry he’s asleep” and he started kissing her again. I was looking for an opportunity to wake up so that they would stop. All of a sudden she turned hitting her legs against mine. It was my opportunity to wake up so I sat bolt up in bed and yelled. He jumped away from her and tried to act like they weren’t doing anything. Then he left in a hurry saying he had to get home to his wife. The girl decided to stay and talk for a while. She said she was tired so I offered to let her stay at my place, she accepted so I went and got her a blanket. Then I got in bed. We talked a little more then she got up and got in bed with me. (I thought wooo hooo) We had just started kissing and embracing each other and my damn alarm went off. Damn it.

Anyway I might add a dream category to this page when I have one worth writing about.

Good Times,
Jess

Stalkers

2005-03-09T07:21:00.000-06:00

Ok…well what should we talk about today? Stalkers, I think we’ll talk about stalkers today. I think it has just been my week for disasters. Let me explain. My garbage disposal hasn’t been working, but stuff was still draining, and I didn’t feel like messing with maintenance so I just let it be. I threw food away instead of putting it down the disposal. Everything came to a head…My kitchen sink overflowed two Saturdays ago while I had company over. So maintenance comes out and takes care of it and tells me to call Monday to have the disposal fixed. Then that same night my bathroom sink overflows so the guy comes back out, can’t fix it and then calls the plumber. That finally gets fixed and the entire time I have company over.
I had taken last Friday off to take care of some stuff and I just figured I’d pile that on top. However, the day before my kitchen sink overflowed again right before work. I was afraid I was going to be late so I was speeding. I got busted. Finally everything seems to be going alright. I go to my nephew’s birth day party Saturday the 5th in the afternoon. It was Good Times!!!
I get home and my friends start showing up for game night. We all just set down to get started playing and I see this huge fat guy looking in my window from outside. Then he walks away. A few minutes later there is a knock on my door, and I didn’t see him come by my window, so he had to come around the apartment. My friend answered the door and let him in. The guy says that he heard all the noise, and my first thought is that he’s a neighbor and we were bothering him.
He wasn’t my neighbor. He was my neighbor’s friend. He said he felt drawn to my apartment. I had one of my friends work with him on how to getting everything ready so he could play. Having him there made everyone feel a little awkward. After he left I talked to my friend that worked with him. This guy said some pretty interesting stuff. Like at one point he shhhd my friend because he was having an argument with his inner voice. He told my friend that his inner voice thought this was a bad place and he was arguing with it because he felt that there was a purpose for him being there. To top it all off he said that he did not believe in God that he believed in himself. Perhaps that is why I let him stay as he said that shortly after he came in. I believe in God and thought that maybe I could help him realize the truth.
All said and done I told him that the plan was to give him a try out and then the group would vote. After he had left the group decided not to give him a try out and that he made them feel uncomfortable. I agreed. Hindsight being 20/20 I should have saw him out right after I found out that he was not my neighbor. Anyway, the next day I sent him and email stating the group’s decision and that I supported it. I still have received a response from that email. My guess is that he will not respond in order to claim ignorance and show up this Saturday. At which point I will just tell him that we have decided and any further attempts to contact us will result in police involvement.
He’s knocked on my door a few times since then. His email address is also kind of weird. He’s claiming to be peaceful. In my experience people usually decide that about people because a person is, not because they say they are. Almost like he is trying to convince people that he’s something he’s not. Needless to say this guy makes me feel most uncomfortable. He even told me that he had seen Sadie and me before.

Sadie’s Kennel:

Yesterday Jesse left for work and I knew just what I wanted. I had been eyeballing a bag of chips that I could easily get. I planned it perfectly. We went through our morning routine and when I heard him lock the door I was on my way. I ran around the corner and ever so gently reached up onto the table and grabbed the bag of chips. Hihihi I had flawlessly executed my plan. I back around the corner to the floor in the living room where I would shred the bag and eat the chips. I was sooooo happy that I didn’t hear Jesse come back in. He was looking right at me. I was caught red pawed. I didn’t know what to do. I dropped the bag, maybe he didn’t see it. But he did and I knew I was in for it. He couldn’t stop laughing and just kept saying “OOOO you’re busted!!!” I thought maybe I could escape. I tucked my tail between my legs and skirted around him towards the open door. I had my front paws out when he said “Where do you think you’re going?” I had to come back in. He didn’t spank me or anything. It was worse. He put the chips on top of the fridge where I couldn’t reach them. Then he patted me on the head and left for work. I was left alone and even worse chip less. I would have rather gotten spanked and still have the chips.

Woof for now,
Sadie

Family Circus:

My sister threw my nephews 3rd birthday party last weekend. There was drama as usual, but I think Bug had a good time and got some great presents. I taught him how to sneak a little frosting off the cake before he was allowed to eat it. Muahahah, Bug is now a frosting sneaker…hahaha
Now the drama part was that apparently my sister’s in laws felt that Brian and Beth should through 2 separate parties: one for his friends, and one for his family. Anyway, I would have to agree with Beth and Brian that one party is enough. It gets a little more involved than that, but I don’t feel like getting into it right now.

A Night of Woe

2005-03-07T18:47:00.000-06:00

This is a tale of woe and madness happened about two weeks before Christmas 04. It was a cold, dark, windy night. A cloud occasionally eclipsing the full moon my friend Adam and I were sitting around the table discussing something that we had heard from personal experience or something equally important like the cure for cancer or world hunger. To my surprise my phone rang. It was another one of our friends, Calin.
Calin started speaking very quickly and franticly. “Jesse I’m on my way over. I’ve got to tell you and Adam something that just happened to me. I’ll be right there. Then he hung up.
Adam asked who it was and I told him what Calin had told me and we both dismissed it. “Ahh that crazy Romanian probably just won two dollars off of a scratcher.” At that very moment music came out of no-where. Dahh..Dahhh...DAHHHH!!! Adam and I each with an I brow arched looked at each other realizing that Oklahoma did not have scratchers yet and simultaneously recognizing that the music came from what sound like an old black and white horror film.
Only a moment passed when all of a sudden there was a sharp rap, rap, rap, on my door. Then lightening flashed and the power went out. The lightening kept striking lighting up a silhouette in the window next to my door with a brilliant flash. Adam and I grew instantly quiet as the camera panned from our faces to the door and zoomed in as the knob slowly turned back and forth. Dah…Dahh..DAHHH!!!. We couldn’t figure out were that music was coming from. Then suddenly, much to my relief and Adam’s chagrin, we heard Calin yell from outside “Hey someone let me in. The door is locked and it’s cold out here.
Adam got up and opened the door. Oddly there was not a cloud in the sky. Dah…Dahhh…DAHHHHH!, but it was still cold and windy. Calin walked in with a large present. It was a large box half wrapped in wedding present wrapping paper. He set it down and immediately poured himself a shot. He was trembling so bad that you could hear the neck of the bottle clanking against the shot glass as he poured. He was visibly shaken. He took a sip then set the shot down on the table. He sat back and the fire would have been crackling if we had one, but we didn’t. He told us his story:
“I walked out of my apartment and was going to get in my car when I heard a voice say (help me) come from the bushes. I didn’t think anything of it at first. I just thought I was hearing things. When I turned to get in my car I heard it again.
Curious now, I walked to the bush. There was a little fat old man hiding in it wearing nothing but a pair of red underwear. He had a snow white beard and was hold that gift Calin said pointing to the present. He said that he went to a wedding and was kicked out. Then he came here and he was robbed. They took everything his clothes his sleigh, his reindeer. The only reason they hadn’t gotten this present is because I was able to hide it in the bushes before they got to me. Calin said that he felt sorry for the guy and didn’t want him running around naked so he went inside and got an OSU shirt and gave it to him. (You see, it’s ok to give away OSU anything because they suck and no-one wants there stuff anyway) The man put it on and asked Calin if he had anything red because red was his color. Calin said he was sorry but he didn’t. Calin said “ Well I have to be on my way.” When the old man stopped him, “you’re friends with Adam and Jesse right?” Calin a little nervous now said “Yes, how did you know?” The old man said “I’m Santa” The little crazy old guy that thought he was Santa and Calin argued for a few moments “No you aren’t. Yes I am. No you aren’t. Yes I am. No you aren’t. Yes I am. No you aren’t. Yes I am. No you aren’t. Yes I am. No you aren’t. Yes I am.” This happened for about five minutes when Calin grew tired of this endless debate. “Ce Dracu!!! Enough of this old man” Calin said to placate him. “You are Santa, what does that have to do with me?” The old man said that this present is for Adam and Jesse and wanted him to bring it to us. DAhh…DAHhh…DAHHHH!!!! Calin agreed took the gift and left. That is when he called us.

The three of us sat there looking at each other and the present. Adam and I, both thought “This crazy Romanian. You can’t just accept gifts from strangers. The United States isn’t like Romania. It’s probably a bomb or Anthrax or something equally deadly and dangerous like a snail or something.” Calin thought we should open it. Adam and I thought we should call the police.
Calin offered to open it for us. It wasn’t ticking or anything. Adam and I, did not want to be out macho’d by a Romanian decided we’d open it. We carefully took the package outside and set on the patio. In case something bad did happen, my dog Sadie would be safe. We put on gloves and held our breaths. We slowly cut through the tape and working as a pair opened the flap of the box while the other looked for trip wires. We opened the box with the daintiest of movements. Both of us knew that all of us would die with one wrong move. We saw another box inside. The debate to call the police happened again. When Calin once again challenged our man hood by saying that he was not afraid and would open the box. Again, Adam and I took painstaking care in taking the next box from the previous box and slowly, carefully began to open that, only to find another box. At this point we knew we had been had and started tearing into each consecutive box until we found to small packages. I handed one to Adam and we both opened one. Calin and bought us lighters and had them engraved. Oddly enough Adam and I had each grabbed and opened our own lighter.
Calin has gotten us. He is the master for the time being. Adam and I made the fatal error of underestimated our mild manner friend. Not to worry though, I will have a follow up story. “A Night of Revenge” this will be the story in which Adam and I get even. Woo Hoooo…..

Gold Digger

2005-02-18T12:09:00.000-06:00

This is so great. I’ve got some great topics to write about, now I just need the time to write about them, so let’s get started.

I usually listen to a morning show on the radio every morning. Yesterday the DJ’s had women come on to have the jewelry appraised. Five women went on. The first two that went had been given jewelry for Valentines Day and it was real and worth a little more than they had thought it was. The third also was given something for Valentines Day, but hers was fake and she had been told it was real. I could probably write another blog on the fourth women. Hers was about her engagement ring. According to her they had mutually decided to hold off on the wedding, but were still seeing each other. Her former fiancé had told her that the ring was $10,000.00 and that if she gave him $1,000.00 she could keep it. It was fake and she was hurt and if I remember correctly crying. Anyway I might blog on her later. However, this blog is about the 5th lady.
This lady comes on the air saying that she loves her man and they are so in love. That she is sorry for the other two ladies with fake jewelry, but she knows hers is real. It is supposed to be a silver necklace with diamonds. She says that her boyfriend gave it to her and told her that his grandmother had given it to him and that he was supposed to give it to the women that he could see himself marrying. He told her that it was real valuable to him and not to wear it often, but to keep it close to her heart.
The necklace was appraised and turned out to be fake. I believe the appraiser said costume jewelry fake. Girl number 5 was livid. How could her boyfriend do this to her? Says “(insert boyfriends name) if you listen you’re in trouble.
The DJ’s, which are two guys and a woman, are sticking up for this guy. Saying that according to her he didn’t tell her that it was worth a lot of money, and Girl # 5 even confirmed that he didn’t say that it was worth a lot of money. Girl # 5 goes on to say that he said it was valuable and that she didn’t know about his family, but in her family value meant dollars.
At this point I was pretty shocked. One of the big reasons that I left CA was to get away from the Gold Diggers and come some place with good hearted women. Oklahoma let me tell you, Girl # 5 is not painting a pretty picture for “ya’ll”.
So today she calls back in and misleads the DJ’s into thinking that they had talked about it and convinces them to call him up and put him on the air. He comes on and she railroads this poor guy. He tells her that it was sentimental, that it was a family heirloom that he was supposed to give it to the woman that he was going to marry. Basically, he’s proposing to her on air. She just keeps going on about how it’s fake and worthless. The DJ’s then step in and say didn’t you just hear what was said. The girl said that she did and was still going on about how it was fake. The DJ’s then asked the guy what he thought and he said that his heart was breaking, and that he was losing his love for her each time she spoke. The girl quips that it’s ok because it must not have been real love then. The DJ’s then apologize to the guy saying that they were under the impression that they had already talked about this. The guy said that was ok and the DJ’s say that they aren’t going to let them break up on their show and they should go talk it over.
The DJ that is known for being a little crass starts warning the guy off and tells her to go to a popular clubbing area and that he’ll find three girls just like her in an hour. Understandably the guy is hurt and lashes out a little, but that even had more class than this girl. He says that he’s through with her and that she is just a gold digger and would be happy to give her number to any guy that would like a gold digger. She says ok, that it didn’t matter because she was single now anyway. This guy and the DJ’s and I are in total shock. The DJ’s ask her if she is serious and she says yes. The phones light up and the producers say that it’s a bunch of guys calling for her number the DJ’s tell her and she says to give it to them. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. The DJ’s asked if she would give the necklace back and she said yes that it wasn’t worth anything anyway.
Man, I’m still in a little bit of shock over this. I have petty for the girl and hope the guy will move on. Personally I think the radio station should try to set this guy up with some classy women that will appreciate who he is. I’m not trying to sound venomous toward women. It’s happened to me before too. I’m a bit biased about this sort of thing. Maybe I’m a romantic, but what ever happened to the couple that the girl cuts her beautiful long hair to buy her husband a chain for his pocket watch and the husband that sold his pocket watch to buy his wife the decorative combs for her hair? That is the love that I’m searching for. Maybe I’m being foolish. It sounds like this guy would have sold his watch for her. I like to think I would sell my watch as well. What do you think ladies? Would you cut and sell your hair? Are there any of you left out there? Let me know what you think ladies and gentlemen.

Family Circus:
Nothing new to report.

Sadie’s Kennel:
I’m just in my weekly routine right now. Two walks a day and a good brush down. I did meet two nice girls on Valentines Day, but they left before Jesse got back. Hehehe…I’ve still got the touch…I’m soo cute…
Woof for now,
Sadie

Until next time
Jesse

What to say about Valentines Day

2005-02-14T21:18:00.000-06:00

Well here it goes...I've only done something twice on Valentines Day. The first time was with at the time an exgirlfriend who hadn't hooked up with anyone yet, so we decided to spend it together. We had a good time, but then the next day it was splitsville again. The second time was with a girl that I really liked, but all said and done she just wanted to be friends. I've been single for every other Valentines Day. I'm not really sure what to think about that.
On another note I have always wondered about the possible implications that Valentines Day and Venerial Disease have the same initials. Anyway, I saw on the news today that someone in their infinite wisdom has also declared this day as: "Singles Awarness Day". First let me tell you anyone who is single is already aware of it. I don't really think that we need a day to remind us of that fact. Personally I think that someone is trying to market Valentines Day to single people by putting another name on it.
I was considering possible options for tonight. Not who to spend it with, but what to do. You can't ask a who on a day like to day without imposing serious implication as to your interest in them. Even if you aren't they will still think you are. If they say "Yes" you have sneaking suspictions of them. If they say "No" you know that they have those same suspicions about you. All of this considered I decided that bars where out. Resteraunts too because you will just be flooded with happy couples. Which pretty much leaves staying in.
I think I would enjoy and loathe this day just as much even if I was with someone. Probably more so now. Right now I loath not being with someone and getting obligatory Valentines Day sex. I enjoy not having to buy obligatory Valentines Day gifts and paying for dinner. However, I think I would gladly make the trade.

Family Circus:
Well, bugs birthday is coming up and so is Natties. It's going to be good times. Bug is easy to buy for, but what the heck do I get for a 1 year old girl. I suppose Barbies are out of the question.

Why the way mom did it was better reason #2:
So last week I was violently ill. It was either the flu or food poisening. Needless to say one morning I woke up with my head on the rim of the toilet bowl and the day after sprawled on the bathroom floor. Let me just say thank God mom made me clean the bathroom her way when I was younger. I will admit that when I moved out I went on strike so believe I know what a dirty bathroom is, but even my dirty bathroom never held a candle to the nastyness of bathrooms that I've seen in clubs, bars, or fairs. Anyway when I woke up on the toilet bowl I was happy that my mother had taught me to wash the entire toilet and then do the toilet bowl with bleach. Thanks mom.

Sadies Corner:
Yesterday Jesse took me to the lake again. First I ran all around. Then Jesse took me swimming. I didn't swim that long because the water was very cold, but to warm me up Jesse taught me how to jump over a cable in a fence. Then we played more fetch. Then we went home and I got brushed. I love to get brushed it's my favorite.
Woof for now,
Sadie

Anyway there is more to come, but it's bedtime for me now.
GoodTimes
Jesse

OMG there is nudity in that?

2005-02-01T19:55:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite movies of all times is Clash Of The Titans. I don't remember how old I was, but the first time that I saw it was with my dad. I had to have been under ten and it was on tv. Every other time I've watched it was usually with my dad and it was on tv. The other day I was in Wal Mart and there it was. Clash Of The Titans on dvd in wide screen copywrite 1981 rated PG. Woooo hooo...so I bought it. Came home put it in the dvd player and started watching it. OMG there is nudity in it. I was surprised, I'd never seen it in that movie before, then it occurred to me that I had only ever watched it on tv. Just so you know there are three nude shots: First of a womans breasts as she pulls her child up to breast feed, then of a womans and little boys butt as they walk down the beach hand in hand mother and child. This was all to show our hero growing up. At the end of the movie is shows our hero's betroved getting out of the bath before she is sacraficed. That showed partial side of breast and her butt. All the nudity was tastefull...no gratuitous sex scenes as a matter of fact there were no sex scenes at all. I was primarily shocked because I didn't know that they even existed in the movie. Here is the question that I now pose. Less than 30 years ago it the breast and butt of two adult females and the butt of a young boy shown in a movie was PG. Watch Stripes, or Police Academy both movies in the same era rated R showing full frontal nudity commonly in shower scenes. Today Clash Of The Titans would most assuradly be rated R for the nudity shown in it. Why and how did society change? Why is a breast shown in a movie in 1981 any different than a breast shown in a movie today. Granted, most of the time nudity is shown in movies today it is before, during, or after a sex scene or scene of like nature. Let that be our second question. Why do we show more sex in movies now? They are almost never needed or essential to the plot. Answere: sex sells. People do not care about a breast unless it's being used in a sexual manner. That leads me to still another question: If people don't care about womens breast unless they are being used in a sexual manner then why is there a huge uproar about breast feeding in public right now. It would seem that it is more socially acceptable for a woman to have her breasts used sexually in public than to use them for the major reason women were given breast...to give there kid lunch. What does this say about the degradation of society. I think it says a lot.

Family Circus:
Not much new here. I will have some up coming announcments so stay tuned.

Sadies Corner:
Well life has been pretty boring lately. A lot of rain means little out doors. Thankfully it's not freezing any longer so Jesse doesn't stick those stupid things on my feet. I have enjoyed great games of chase the flashlight lately. I know it comes out of that stick thing that Jesse is holding, but it's still fun to chase. My friends usually come visit me once or twice a week and I usually get to play hide and seek with Adam.

The differences:
Well in CA you will never here the phrase "useta could" or "seemta can't". Used in context: "I useta could run a mile in 7 minutes, and now, I just seemta can't" Quote actually overheard in a conversation.

My life:
Well my friend Matt and I are still trying to get together for some good times. I finally paid off my used truck. I'm meeting with some friends for dinner this week and possibly catching a flic with another. Other than that it's pretty much the same old story...work, eat, sleep, play with the dog, and hang out with friends.

On another note:
Let us discuss men and women again for a bit. I think if you asked 100 women what cute means as applied to people they would list of any number of things having to do with personality. You ask that to 100 men and they will tell you that it is the pretty much the step in looks between your Plain Janes and your hotties. I thought this to be kind of interesting. It's also kind of an eye opener. I've been called cute a few times. I always thought I was being complimented on my looks. However after this most shocking realization I guess I've got a good personality.
Here is another thing to: Guys will use a common tactic of talking about "hot women" when they are with someone that they like as a friend but are not interested in. Today one of my galfriends was telling me that she was going to have to break it off with a guy that she's been seeing because he's always talking about hot women. She also said that it annoyed/hurt her when he did that. This also made me think as I have also employed this "tatic" before: Do most women feel this way? Does it annoy them and hurt there feelings? Then I think that wouldn't it hurt their feelings and possibly embarrass them if they wanted to be more then friends and we were not hinting that we didn't and then they did something that was not well recieved? Which kind of leaves us in a damned if you do damned if you don't situation. Should we be honest? Would that even help? People are notorious for: "Oh if I spend enought time with him/her I can make her see how much I love them and they will have to love me." Regardless of how honest you are with some people they will still think the above or any number of other flawed thought patterns resulting in the target falling in love with them. I also thought that it is entirely possible that as guys we our 'tactic" isn't being interpreted as we are not attracted to you and just want to be friends. Upon further reflection even most "hot women" are insecure about something. I would also speculate that most women that are not physically attractive by todays standards know that they aren't. They may try to cover it up etc...but they know. In general most people do. In this light all that this tactic is achieving is a constant and painfull reminder that we do not think the other person is attractive. They know they aren't and we tell them that over and over again. So women, here is my question to you if you are attracted to a guy or do things that may make a guy think youre attacked to him how do we tell you we just want to be friends because we are not attracted to you? Should we use our "hot chick tatic" but less often or should we say: "Hi, I'm Jesse. Pleased to meet you. I just wanted to let you know that I do not find you attractive and therefore do not want to be involved with you in any romantic way, but I'd love to be friends because I like your personality?" That is kind of a mouthfull. Both ways seem equally ridiculous to me. How do we do it? Let's get some female advice so ladies...send in your emails...

Until next time....
Jesse

Booties

2005-01-13T11:51:00.000-06:00

Now for those of you with dirty minds I'm not speaking of booties that people have etc...I'm talking about those little things that you can stick on feet. Specificly Sadies feet.
It's supposed to drop below zero this weekend and I didn't want Sadie's paws to freeze to my porch so I went out and bought her some booties. It was major drama. I find a set for about 14 bucks...there are only two booties in the package so I bought two packages. I get home and find the that there are actually four booties in the package that one bootie is cleverly tucked inside another. Now I have one package to many. I proceed to put them on Sadie. She is compliant, but she gives me a look like she was saying "What the Hell are you doing to me?" So I take her outside...watching her walk in the booties is hillarious, but two of them fall off. I take her back inside and put them back on and she proceeds to sit under the table and look at me like I am torturing her by making her wear these things.
Any way I figure that I have to bring one set back so I might as well bring them both back and get her the better set. Maybe it will fit better and she won't through any. They are $10.00 more than the total cost of both the other sets. 4 little dog booties for $39.99....can you believe that? They do fit better though. Just to paint a picture of what she looks like when she is walking...imagine putting tape on the paws of a cat...it's kind of like that but add to it...she steps high and wide every time she takes a step.

On another note:
I know at some point I have discussed sex and food. I thought I would mention that for men...hunger overides sex drive.
I also remember discussing how men would probably be more happy to eat a pizza off a woman than whip cream...This led me to another thought: I was thinking one day about how much I like it when women wear vanilla scented/flavored perfume...(Personally I think it would be awesome if it was flavored as well because if you are on intimate terms with her you get the best of both worlds) Anyway, I think that they should make some more scents...like: cold beer to be worn on hot days, pizza for around meal time, the list could go on and on but in essence should contain all the flavors and smells, of not only the commonly excepted errotic foods/flavors, but also the more general foods that any man would call his favorite...
Ladies who are trying to get a man could think of it more like this...you are good looking one way of attacting a guy, wear make up which in essence is to make you appear turned on/furtile is a second way, great personality a third way...here it is now you smell and taste like our favorite food...woo hoooo....now instead of using only one or two ways to get us you have an extra way...ask any guy...the more things you are doing at once to achieve an objective...the more likely you are to achieve that objective...
Disclaimer: I'm in no way purposing that women should view men as objects or a prize to be won. Women either for that matter.

The Differences:
In OK you can not pour water on your winshield to make the frost go away...it only makes it worse.
In OK you have to make your faucettes drip and open cabinet doors that are near the pipes because your water might freeze in your pipes...I have learned this doesn't mean to open all the cabinets and turn all your faucets all the way on even though that wasn't specified in the letter from the apartment complex.

Sadies Corner:
Jesse bought me a leather jacket. I look soooooooo gooooooood in it. He also bought these stupid little things for my paws. He makes me wear them...I don't like wearing them, but to make matters worse he just laughs at me everytime I move. I'm getting use to them, but when he's not around he puts them up so I can't chew them. Man if I could just get ahold of those things for a few minutes...

Why you should do things the way mom did them:
So I'm making sloppy joes the other night...My beef is already cooked. So I figure I'll save time by preheating the pan for the sauce. Needless to say the sauce hit the pan and exploded...my kitchen is now red. I was right it was ready to serve much faster than if I had put the sauce in the pan then turned on the stove, but was that extra speed worth it...I don't think so specificly because it will probably take me longer to clean up the mess than the time I saved doing it that way anyway.

Call for help:
I'm a guy...I like food...and I can cook, but I don't have recipes or instructions on how to make anything. Please email me your recipes and instructions...I'm getting sick and tired of eating froozen food. Also keep in mind that I am single, so if your recipe serves four...I will be eating it for that many days.

Quit smoking:
Well it is day five. Over the past five days I have smoked 40 ciggarettes. Normally by this time it would have been 100. I have succesfully cut my consumption down by 60%. I feel that I'm accomplishing my goal. By the way...I'm using the patch which is cheaper than a pack a day habbit. My first goal is to not smoke anything...I'm giving myself two weeks to do that...then another six weeks of the patch step one with no smokes...and stay smoke free for the two weeks of step two and three and then the rest of my life.
My cravings have been few and light...most difficult times is when bored...when others smoke while I'm having a craving.
Benefits: I'm already starting to feel better, obviously my risk for cancer will go down, good breath...don't smell like smoke...things are starting to taste and smell better...
#1 biggest benefit so far. I have been waking up in the mornings and my mouth still tastes like tooth paste from the night before.

I'll try and write more soon...as always I enjoy my readers comments.
Cya

Woe is me....

2005-01-10T11:30:00.000-06:00

Well, I'mmmmm back!!! I have a new old computer now, but it is much better than my last old computer. Better than it was before it crashed anyway.
Let me give you a brief update on all that has happened since the last time we talked.
The holidays have come and gone. My parents came up for Christmas and it was great to see them again. The night before they left they said "by the way we bought a house out here" The close at the end of this month so keep them in your prayers and keep your fingers crossed.

I decided to quit smoking yesterday. It's good because my mom made a deal with me that if I quit smoking she would go on a diet. Both of us will be much healthier. So yesterday I went for 14 hours before I finally caved and bought a pack of smokes. Then I smoked 11. That's still pretty good up till yesterday I was a pack a day smoker. Today...Day 2 it's been 12 hours and I've only had two smokes. This is what I figure I will do. Previously as soon as I bought a pack I would quit quitting. This time I'm trying to take the attitude to do the best I can. If I smoke one or even 20 that I should just keep trying to quit. So far it hasn't been that bad. I've had a few cravings that just kept going and going. That is why I bought a pack yesterday. I read an article when I was 25 about how long it takes for all the effects of smoking to totally leave you. I think I figured out that by the time I was 53 it will be like I have never smoked. Hopefully a good diet and great work out will cut that time down.

I'm currently buying a truck from my friend. It's a good little truck. It needs some work done. My plan is that once it is running well that I will go ahead and replace my clutch in my car and then let my parents use it once they move here. That way they will have two vehicles. That also gives me a back up if something happens to the truck.

Sadie is doing well. I need to take her to the vet to get her caught up on her shots. The biggest thing with her is I have to decide if I'm going to breed her. I don't think it's going to happen though. I don't want to breed her in an apartment. I'm not willing to have her stay somewhere without me and I don't think I will be able to buy a house anytime soon. She just turned 3 which really means I should breed her this year. I either need to breed her, or have her spayed. I'm trying to hold out because I'd really like her to have her own litter of puppies. Decissions...decissions...

I'll write more later. Once I figure out the html for the right side of the templet look for my daily quit smoking updates it will include how much I smoked each day and how many hours I went without any smokes. I would highly recommend to all you smokers out there to try and quit with me. It's a filthy habbit, I've always believed that I was just to lazy to try and beat the addiction. It also just gets more expensive every year...it's highway robbery I tell ya...
Any way any emails of encouragement would be much appreciated. If you would like to jump on the band waggon let me know...give me updates of your progress and I'll post it in my blog as well.

Tell next time, which might even be tonight...cya

SCROOGE? NOPE IT'S JUST TIME SOMEONE SAID IT OUT LOUD.

2004-12-15T08:17:00.000-06:00

Just so everyone knows:
My computer crashed a few weeks ago. So my updates will be few and infrequent for a while. I'm hoping of having a new one by this Saturday or Sunday. Otherwise probably not until Feb. or March. Hang in there I will update when I can.

Scrooge?...Bah Humbug!!!
With Christmas upon us I have taken the time to reflect and look back at Christmas Past. There are a few things that I noticed was bothering me during this undertaking. Have you ever noticed that couples often buy one gift for people and give it away from both of them? I bet you that some old cheap married couple invented this idea years ago. The guy tip toed over to his wife and whispered in her ear "Guess what honey? Now that we are married we can buy one gift for everyone and have each gift be from both of us. Not having to buy two gifts means that we only spend half as much money! Hehehe." If only I could find that bastard now.
It's a damned if you do damned if you don't situation. It works as follows: If you are the couple the proper way to do it is to spend what each of you would have spent on the present. Say you had budgeted $20.00 per person they should spend $40.00 on one person if they want to give a gift as a couple. More often than not a couple will skimp and spend $20.00 per person as a couple and then use the other 20 bucks for something else. The nice thing is that they can still put some thought into what that person wants and give a nice gift. Now as a single guy buying for a couple to spend the same expense you would have to cut your budget in half per person @ $10.00. Which, sad to say it's pretty hard to find a nice gift for someone at that price. The other alternative is to spend $20.00 and buy them something as a couple. The problem is finding a nice gift for a couple that they will both want. So you end up going with something generic like a gift certificate for somewhere. The problem is that is generic. I'll get to that next. Anyway, this is what I have personally decided: For any couple that buys me a gift from the both of them...I will buy both of them a gift from me. Bah Humbug...lol

Cheap gifts...have you ever gotten that gift that made you feel like you were an after thought? I have. It's important to understand that I feel a gift is something you give someone because you think they will like it. As opposed to a present something you give someone that you want them to have. I can understand afterthought type presents from Secret Santa's and the like, but from friends and family I just prefer to get something other than a gift card. If you are going to do that you might as well just give me cash so I can spend it anywhere that I'd like.

Next I would like to talk a little about Christmas Trees. I have made no secret that I'm single. I have not put up a Christmas Tree since I moved out of my parents home. My mom, sister have always gotten after me to put up a tree. Recently I had lunch with a friend and she seemed rather shocked that I didn't put one up. Why should I though? Spend $100.00 or more to buy a tree, lights, ornaments, etc...to have a tree that only my dog and I will enjoy. If I had a girlfriend that spent alot of time at my place I would probably do it. Then I would have someone to enjoy it with. Until that time I probably won't. Besides, if I'm really in the mood to go look at a tree I can always find someone that has one like my sister or a friend with a girlfriend. At least then I would have someone to enjoy it with. Plus I'm not stuck watering the stupid thing. Trying to dispose of it when I'm done, or vacuming up pine needles.

Sadies Corner:
I have so much to say, and so little time. Well the most eventfull thing latley was that Adam and Calin came over. Adam brought cookies. He ate most of them, but he left them on the table and Jesse didn't seem to notice. So I waited for Jesse to go to work. Then I pulled them off the table. Score!!! The mother load. 8 chewy chips ahoy cookies. Wooooo Hoooo and Good Times. After I finished eating them I had even more amusing time shredding the wrapping. Then Jesse came home. He had seen what I did and it was not good times. He didn't tell me that it was ok and that he loved me again until after he cleaned up the mess I had made. I felt soo bad. It's ok though because he loves me again. Woooo hoooo.

Well to all my loyal readers. I must go. My friend would like his computer back. Until next time. I will try to update again as soon as I can. Keep a computer for me in your prayers.

Merry Christmas.

2004-11-21T18:34:00.000-06:00

This weekend was pretty good. Our systems were down last Thurs. at work. I was off on Fri. I had a dentist appointment. That went pretty well, but then I found out that the actually trimmed some of the gumb away from one of my teeth. That sucked. The I hung out with one of my friends.
Saturday I just kind of kicked back. Read a little, napped alot, took the dog out. It was good times.
Today I got a haircut and ran some errands. I think I might even eat at Sonic tonight. Why not?

Commentary:
Well here is that same old question once again. What to write about? On a previous topic I have been doing alot on the differences between Men and Women lately so this may be of some interest to you. I was flipping through the channels this morning and I saw a female minister giving a sermon on the differnces between a man and a woman. Now I wasn't paying extremly close attention to what she was saying, but she did talk about the 5 most important needs of a woman and a man.
A Woman in no particular order:
A. Companionship
B. Financial Support
C. Blah...blah...blah
D. Blah...blah...blah
E. Blah...blah...blah
To all of you women out there it is important to understand that I'm not saying that your needs are "Blah...blah...blah" or unimportant. I just can't remember what she was saying right now. If I do I will amend the above and maybe even put them in order of most to least important.
Men in order from most to least important:
1. Sexual Gradification
2. A beautifull spouse
3. Recreational Companionship
4. Blah...blah...blah
5. Domestic Support
The female minister went on to say that women should do whatever they can to look nice and sexually gradify their husbands. (I think I like this minister) She did use the verse in the bible that talks about wives submitting to there husbands, but she qualified it in the way that I often do continuing with the next verse that talks about how husbands should serve there wives the way the Christ served the church. Any way I just thought you might find that interesting.

So Christmas is almost here. Has everyone finished there Christmas Shopping? What does everyone think about Santa Clause Vs. Christ? I think I'll have to write on that...probably tomorrow.

Sadies Corner:
I hung out with Adam and Jess Friday night. It was "Good Times!" On Saturday Jess took me to the lake. The water was cold, but I still had fun. He left me for a while on Sunday, but it wasn't that long, and he is home now so life is good. To all my loyal readers you can by me anything that you would like as long as it is for dogs. I added a link on the page that will take you right there. Woof!!!!

Family Circus:
Beth has been asked to make the Turkey this year, but serve and her in laws house. Supposedly everyone seems to think that too many people are coming to have it at Beth's house. I don't know what to think, and at this point I really don't care, free food, home made, and good. I'll be there if they serve it on the lake. Although I do think that Beth and Brian have a larger house and that their family could use a quick lesson on learning how to make do and enjoy the food and company as opposed to being locked in to a certain way of doing things. It's a good thing that the shoes were not reversed. Thank God they do not have any daughters and I was the one that got married. It would probably have ended by now.

I'll update soon

Pizza and Sex

2004-11-17T11:58:00.000-06:00

I've been watching people during my breaks for quite a while now. In general the women usually sit together and the men sit together. Which isn't the problem and there generally is some intermingling. However, I've noticed that typically women talk about there relationships, children, there house, dreams, etc... Us guys usually talk about extremely mundain things for instance the other day us guys spent an entire break talking about twinkies. Now we dressed it up a little talking about the scientific process that had been used to test the twinkies, some test that we would like to see performed on them etc... Ultimatly we still spent a break talking about twinkies.
At this I thought is it any wonder that women have got us figured out. Just think how much more men might understand women if we spent even 15 minutes a day talking about relationships. I asked a few women if they thought they had men figured out. Most said that they didn't think so. I pointed out that maybe they were in denial. At that they seemed to look at me in dismay that it could possibly be true that all us men care about is sex, food, sports, and sleep. Women, rest assured that we actually do think of other things from time to time, but I would say that the above sex, food, sports and sleep (The Four) are the primary drives of most men.
The thought had occured to me that it really works like this. Guys are always out for sex, there are very few times when the need for food will overcome the want for sex. Sports is good you can eat food during sports. The thought had occured to me that sex might even be better for women during sports. Haven't you ever seen how exicited guys get when the running back breaks away from the line and is headed toward the end zone. Guys, I wouldn't recomend asking for that.
Food and sex. That has been around for a while. It is yet again a perfect example of another way women and men view things differently. Women think that grapes and sex go well together. Guys would be happiest if they came home to their woman to find them naked and ready with a pizza on there stomach. Syrup...women think lets pour this all over eachother and lick it off...guys think honey...hold your arms together just so and press them to your stomach...I'll go get the ice cream and spoons.
Now sleep pretty much comes after any of the above. Have sex...go to sleep. Eat then sleep...Sports then guess what sleep. Even sleep then sleep. Word of warning guys...you can sleep through the game, you can sleep through sleep, but don't ever sleep through something that involves you and your girl. For instance: Sex or Dinner. Trust me, you will rue the day.
This being understood I do think that it is fair to qualify that as the drives of your typical single guy. We do have other aspirations but they usually come 2ond. Your average married guy also has other aspirations like providing for his family. If he's been married a long time getting his sex drive back after his wife and kids killed it.
Which all of the above seems to fit in well with another one of my theories. Men get married to have sex. The irony is that any man well tell you that is what they thought too, but that it doesn't work out that way. I believe Jeff Foxworthy said "Getting married for sex is like buying a 747 because you want to eat some peanuts." Although my thinking is that it is more about the types of sex rather than the frequency. Honeymoon sex, get back from honeymoon sex, baptize the new house and vehicles sex, we are both home from work because we're sick sex, afternoon lunchtime quickies, lets have a baby sex, pregnant sex, we had the baby sex, anniversary sex, and quick honey the kids are gone for 30 minute sex...there are many other types of sex and the list goes on and on. In any case I think this is a big reason men get married. We all just hope that the frequency is often.
In other news I went to a deli the other day: I asked for a pastrami and swiss on sourdough they made it on dark rye then gave me both. Wooo Hooo.
Here is a question I have. The other day I bought and watched the remake of "Stepford Wives". I noticed some similarities between that and Southern women. Granted the only southern women I've been exposed to for any length of time is my brother in laws family. Now I don't know if all southern women are like that but I swear to god they could have easily filmed this movie in there houses. These women keep immaculate homes, can cook and do cook just about everything under the sun, and always seem to look their best. Don't get me wrong I was just raised differntly. If you wanted food go, go get it. I started doing my laundry when I was in 5th grade etc...Honestly though I'd rather have a women that is my companion as opposed to my servant. To anyone in my brother in laws family: I'm not saying that your women are or that you treat them like servants etc...All I'm saying is that compared to how I was raised that is what it feels like to me. Funny thing is I've never really seen the men order them around. They do it voluntarily. To each there own I guess.

Family Circus:
Well all is well on my sisters home front. She does seem a little upset at the possibility that I may be spending Thanksgiving with some friends. Other than that she seems to be holding to the norm.

Sadies Corner:
Well Jesse made the big mistake of leaving a empty Sonic bag where I could get to it. I killed it then shredded it. Unfortunatly I forgot to clean it up before he got home...Oooops!!! I just tried to look as cute and pathetic as I could while he yelled at me. Then I gave him the eyes. He is such a push over sometimes. Other than that we have had to play alot in doors this week because of the rain. I like the rain. I even like playing in the rain, so we play for a little bit outside then alot inside. Jesse says he doesn't like his apartment to smell like wet dog. Adam came to see me this week, but I haven't seen any of my other friends. They better come soon or I'll bite them.

The differences:
One thing I have noticed about Oklahoma is that it is extremely difficult to find sour dough bread here. I haven't found a single store that carries it. I also haven't seen San Francisco Rounds here anywhere. Oklahomans just don't know what they're missing out on.

One other thing that I've noticed: I listen to KJ103 with TJ, Janet, and J Rod in the mornings. Quite often they ask a rather hick type question. As they are discussing it between themselves or with callers they throw out this disclaimer that Oklahoma is really not like this. Usualy to the effect that if anyone from CA is driving through or someone famous from CA is driving through. We are really not like this out here. I heard this the first time a little over a year ago. I am from CA. I'll be the first to tell you that Oklahoma is not that bad of a place. It's not CA, but it's decent enough. Although I have to disagree with the morning crew at KJ103. I can not tell you how often I have heard them say: "Oklahoma is not like this". I'm here to tell you it is. From this point forward I think I'll start keeping track of what they are talking about when this is said because I think you might find it informative and interesting. They say don't be affraid to stop by because Oklahoma is not like this. I say be fearfull, Oklahoma is like this, but stop by anyway because at the very least it is amuzing. Similar to one long, never ending Jeff Foxworthy show, more recently comparible to a lifelong episode of "Blue Collar TV".

Enough for now. Hey does any one have any ideas on how I could possibly get this on the above listed morning show? Let me know. I think they might find my differences section very interesting.

To all my loyal readers:
Until next time...

2004-11-15T11:47:00.000-06:00

Friday 12th:
Worked. Went home did some chores. Played with the dog. Kicked back and then went to bed at decent hour.

Saturday 13th:
Slept in till 8. Got breakfast. Played with Sadie. Took a nap. Friends came over till about 3am.

Sunday 14th:
Slept in. Breakfast, dog, nap, laundry, friend came over for a few hours. Bought some dvd's. Went home watched some of them. Ate dinner, and played with Sadie some more. All and all it was a fairly dull weekend. Just what I needed. Got plenty of rest and didn't spend alot of money.

Monday 15th:
Well I'm here at work during my lunch hour, and thought I'd update this blog. I may right more later, but I'm considering an endeavor which I feel like researching at this time.

I'll write soon,
Jesse

Combination Locks....

2004-11-11T21:10:00.000-06:00

I haven't updated this in awhile. Now by popular demand I am once again updating my blog. Yes, it's true a new blog. You don't have to hide your amazement, but if for some reason you are dissappointed I would prefer that you do hide that. The trouble is I don't have anything to write about. Every writer/professor I've ever known have always said to just start writing and sooner or later something brilliant is bound to come out.
OK where shall I start. I have a new neighbor at work. She is a pretty nice lady. Great thing about her is that, like me, she also is from CA. Woo hoo. Now I don't remember what we were talking about, or even how we got on the subject, but I told her something and she said I should include it in my blog. The only problem is, although at the time I said it, I'm sure that it was brilliant, charming, and probably on the scope of curing world hunger or cancer. I just can't remember what it was. It's totally possible that we were talking about relationships and sex, and even as I write this I am now beginging to remember. I was saying that women should just let men do there thing, then we will be able to concentrate while we attempt to pleasure them. The problem with women is that they expect us to figure out what to do with them. Meanwhile, the fake and we think we are doing it to them. That each woman was like a combination lock. Spin it 3 times to the right to clear it. Spin it four times to the left and land on 15. Spin 3 times to the right and land on 4, finally twice back to the right land on 56. Then open. The only problem is each woman has a different combination. Also they tend to be alot more complicated than the most sophisticated locks. I don't know of a single lock that tells you that it's almost open only to tell you that it is starting to become more locked. Ahhh lifes cruel little ironies. (Although if someone could actually design locks that behaved like women we would probably have alot less break-ins. All the thiefs would be to damn fraustrated with the locks and just give up.) However, I am not suggesting that we men just give up on pleasing our women. I suggest that our women satisfy us. Admit guys, you know the first one is usually quick anyway. Now we are no longer distracted and can concentrate on learning your combination. This part is for the women: Yes most men will have a few tricks up there sleeves and even those of us that you might consider beyond help can at the least turn on the oven. Here is the thing. Teach us your combination. Work with us. Worse case scenario: The first few times even tell us. Just plan ahead. Spend a little time now preparing us. Over time, we will learn the combination, it will become almost instinctive because that is what guys do. We figure out the formula. If you want to fake every so often go ahead. If you do it all the time I can pretty much guarentee that you will never be satisfied, simply because us men will be thinking that we are getting the job done.

In other news: My company has finally been taken over by that other company. The good news and much to my relief we all still have our jobs. At least we have them for the time being. Wooo hooo. The clutch in my car has finally gone out. 120,000 miles, that's pretty darn good for a clutch. Anyway I have bought a truck. It's 7 years older, but has less miles. that should buy me some more time. I usually hang out with a few of my friends a couple different times a week. The poker game has pretty much died, and it now looks that we will give frezbie golf a go.

Where are the ladies?
Obviously I do not know the answere to this question or I proabably wouldn't be typing here. On the lighter side I have met a real nice girl. I'm looking forward to getting to know her better. If I keep asking her to dinner and a movie she has to give in eventually right??? She did call me for the first time today. That was a pleasant surprise.
I also believe that I am cursed. I have been acused serval times of having been engaged and or married to women that I was just friends with or even on a first date. My new working theory is that women see me and think I'm already with someone. Ladies let me assure you that I AM SINGLE!!!!! START YOUR ENGINES AND HIT ON ME!!!!

Family Circus:
Well Bug and Naddie are getting bigger. Bug is a real character. Beth and Brian have a new mouth to feed. Now on to bigger and more important things: Turkey Day. I've been invited to a few different places. On one hand I can eat another one of Beth's most perfect birds and enjoy a feast worthy of kings or go for the unexpected. Although Beth's bird is tempting I'm leaning towards the unexpected at this point simply because it sounds like an adventure.

Sadies Corner:
Well my friends Adam, Calin and Shane come over here to play with me a few times a week. They talk to Jesse, but I know they are here to play with me. Adam tries to pretend he's throwing my ball and then he hides it. He doesn't fool me. Every now and then I'll turn and run just to appease him. Calin lets me sit in his lap. Shane has been neglecting me. He hasn't brought me Munchems in over two months. I might start taking it out on his shoes, but for now I think I'll give him a few more chances. I also have found a new toy. Empty two liter bottles are extremely fun to play with.

The Differnces:
I think I have covered a large number of differences so far so I apologize if this is a repeat. Since I have experinenced it again tonight I will write it anyway. Oklahomans DO NOT KNOW HOW TO DRIVE. I have experianced gridlock here a total of 6 times since I have moved here. On average that is once every two months. In CA I only experianced gridlock once. I drove there for ten years. Only once. The traffic jams I've been in out there were far worse, but people still understand and practiced merging. Granted that in CA you tend not to try to piss off other drivers because road rage is almost a common and exceptable practice. So is keeping a gun in your glove compartment to use should such a situation occur. In all, I have been cut off and in gridlock more often here in one year than in ten years in CA.
Also in CA the lanes you drive in kind of work like this. The "slow lane" is usually the speed limit lane. Each lane to the left increases in 5mph increaments over the speed limit. The far left lane is as fast as you dare go. Often it is common for traffic to be traveling at 10mph over the speed limit. Here people will go 40 in a 65 three lanes abreast. Maybe inbreeding makes them less intelligent, but it would stand to reason that three people in three different cars would be intelligent enough to drive single file in one lane instead of impedeing traffic in all three. I could go on forever about this, and I wouldn't be surprised if I make this my next topic.
On another note, I have never seen so many vehicles broken down on the side of the road as I have here, and they are left there for weeks.

FYI: Do you know how long it takes to get sick of eating at Hooters. Just about a year. Just in case you were wondering.

I can not remember what other sections I had in here, but right now I'm tired. So I'm going to go to bed. I'm not even going to spell check this or proof read it for grammer. So...Please forgive the spelling and grammer.

Goodnight and until next time.

Let's Get Crass

2004-08-31T21:26:00.000-05:00

Well today I thought I'd talk about the chase, and the game. Warning for all those that are about to read further. This may become crass. However, I will endeavour (hehehe that rhymes) to be as sophisticated about this as possible.
First the game. I have been lucky enough to be part of a group that has a regular game. It's kind of nice. Feels like I'm back in Yosemite. We play Texas Hold Em. It's a good time. Ultimatly it's not about the game, but the people who play. They guy that hosts the most often is a pretty cool guy. If I had to describe it I'd say he's a "Good Ol Boy" He and his wife are generous enough to house a group of rowdy guys for an evening of drinking, food, and cards. He does his best to make everyone feel welcome.
Well I'll write more on that at a later date. The next topic is what is crass. I was thinking about a post I made a few days ago. The "Some Guys Got It" one. What was I thinking? Here is the thing. I don't know a single guy that does not enjoy "the chase." Here is the question I now pose: If you don't have the chase what is there?
On the other hand a good rebutal would be having sex whenever you want it. I would have to agree. That could be fun for a while. You still end up bored with someone that robbed you of your chase. Popular phrases deal with this exact subject: "Why buy the cow if you can get the milk for free?" There are a few others and at least a score of names that objectify women.
Or from a historical perspective: Men were hunters and women were gatherers. In that case wouldn't it stand to reason that men will find women that give us the thrill of the hunt. I think so.
Without any further ado the point to all of the above is I think that it would be fun to have women at your beck and call for a while then it would be boring. Ultimatly the ones that have the thrill of the hunt are getting the better deal.
Even with writing that I am split in two. Half of me screaming at the other have saying. "What the F*** are you thinking?" The half getting yelled at is just shrugging is shoulders and asking the same question.

Today:
Well today was my second of 2 12 hour days. I'm glad they are done. I had computer problems for about half the day. It sucked because I had to sit on the phone with IT guys, stare at a monitor. I would much rather do my job. It makes the day go by quicker. I finished off the day using two computers. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will be fixed tomorrow. After that I came home. Cooked some dinner, ate it, then played with Sadie.

Sadies Corner:
Jesse keeps putting my ball in the cup holder of his chair. I figured out how to get it out. Now I put it in and take it out when I want to. Cup holder. I don't think so, it's really a ball holder. The best thing is I find it mildly amusing and when ever I get the ball out Jesse scratches me behind the ears. Woo hoo.

The differences:
Oddly enough I have met a few women that are in regular games of Texas Hold Em. They are even single, cute, and young.
In CA single, cute, and young women are usually only into themselves, and guys with money.

Also much to my surprise most people out here have never heard the phrase "Ass, Grass, or Cash." As said in response to a question in which one is seeking something from you like a ride, help moving, etc. People out here just have not heard it.

Stay Tuned...

The Double Standard

2004-08-30T21:36:00.000-05:00

So here we are. My friend and I are at Chilie's. This is the same friend I talked about in my last update. This waitress that I have a thing for is over talking with us. I think it's for two reasons: 1st cause she has a little crush on my friend and 2ond because my friends new girlfriend works there and she is sitting with us. Anyway the conversation turns to #'s. The age old art of "getting the digits." For those of you that are a little older this means getting someones phone #. It kind of works like this. For a woman: If she walks away with the guys # it a good thing. If she gives her # to him it's a little less of a good thing. If she gives her # and does not get his it's a bad thing. For guys: get her # good. If you like her and you trade #'s good. If you don't like her and you trade #'s bad, and if you just end up giving yours bad. Up the stakes a little OKC has a radio station with loser line. This is for people to give out a # to someone they don't want to give their # to in order to get that person to leave them alone. When the person calls the # they get an answering maching that is pretty nondescript. The station then airs the messages. Any way back to my story. The girls are talking about how many #'s they get and throw away. I mention that my friend does the same thing and I try to catch them before they hit the ground. Here is the double standard. Even though he is getting #'s and throwing them away he is all of a sudden a "man whore" What is the deal with that? He doesn't even ask for the # half the time.

Daily Journal:
It was a real nice day despite the mandatory overtime. I'm trying to not procrastinate and apply for a few different positions at work. Hopefully I'll get one of them. My friend Kalin returned from Romania. He misses his family but is glad to be back. He sent us some beautifull pictures. He even brought back gifts. I got a pair of sunglasses, a pen, and a mug with dracula on it. For those who don't know Romania is more well known for Transilvania. Anyway it is good to have him back.
Adam and I discussed pointless and or stupid company policy. Then rattled on about the muffin joke and or varitations.
My friend Matt has returned from Italy. He also has some great pics. He had a great time.
Shane is doing good. He just needs a new riding partner. I need a bike soon so I can be that partner. If anyone would like to donate to the buy Jesse a motorcycle and protective gear fund let me know.
Anyway I got off of work and went to Chilies hung out for a while then went home to Sadie. She was happy to see me as always.

Sadies Corner:
Well we are back into our weekday routine. A walk in the morning and a walk in the evening. I miss Jesse during the day, but he leaves his TV on for me and I get to run around and play with my toys. He did say he was going climbing soon. woo hoo that means a romp in the woods for me.

Family Circus:
Well Beth talked to her Dr. and I can get an appointment. Now I just have to schedual one. I need to make about two more trips to the dentist and I'll be shipshape in the tooth department.

The differences:
I don't know if I've talked about the wind out here, but it blows all the time. To truly appreciate the Dust Bowl and understand how it happend just live here for a year. You'll understand. I can not remember a single time that the wind wasn't blowing.
California will get a nice breeze every now and then. The Bay Area will get breezy. In the morning and the evening durin certain times of the year. It still doesn't compare to the wind out here.

More to come...

Some Guys Got It

2004-08-29T19:48:00.000-05:00

Ok so this is where we are at:
Work: I'm getting ready to apply for a position that is internal support. The take over is getting closer, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't even a little worried. I've also heard rumors of a dress code. We have mandatory overtime right now. Basicly I see moral going down with mandatory overtime and down even further with this new dress code. We'll see how that turns out.

So I've got this friend. I don't know how he does it, but he does it. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I'd never believe it. He pretty much just has to look at a woman and she falls all over him. We go to Chilies and we leave. He has our waitresses number. We go again to find me one. He literally does not say a thing and she is still more interested in him, and the first waitress is at our table more than her customers tables. This is just one example. I just don't get it.

Who knows? Oddly enough I keep talking to one girl that I met when I first got here. We get along pretty well on the phone. Who knows?

On another note I am excited about two things:
1st I might be going on a cruis in about a month. Hopefully that works out.
2ondly and more importantly I have just bought a guide book to OK climbing. They just haven't had one until now. My friends all seem interested on going and at the very least try the sport I'm so passionate about. I'll go before the end of Sept.

Sadies Corner:
I've been doing well. Jesse cut my nails for the first time today. I guess he got tired of taking me to the vet. He did a good job except he did get a little to close on one. Then he took me to the lake. We drove around it then he let me out to run and swim. I love that so much. He took me to the lake yesterday too. I'm a happy pooch right now but I wish I could play with Panzer again and see Aunt Beth. We'll go soon though and if Jesse goes on the cruise Aunt Beth said I could stay with her and Panzer.

Family Circus:
Well Beth and Brian and the kids have returned from CA. Everyone misses eachother and bug has learned some new tricks. Nat is full of smiles and giggles. Beth and Brian also had a good time.
Unfortunatly for me they also brought some bad news back with them. As it would turn out I might have some from of Parkinsins Disease. Beth is checking to see if her Dr. is taking new patients.

The differences:
If you move to CA no one asks why. If you move to OK everyone asks why.

To all my loyal readers and fans I'll write again sooner this time. Bye all.

Band of Brothers

2004-07-22T19:40:00.000-05:00

I grew up with a sister and no brothers. I have three cousins that are all boys...brothers. I have always been a little jealous of them, and the relationship that they had with eachother. Brothers. I have been fortunate enough to have my own brothers though. Some older with deeper roots, and some newer. In any case it is alot like the popular tv series by HBO that my brother in law Brian intoduced me to "Band of Brothers."
My first brother is a guy named Matt. We met on a school bus on the way home from preschool, and have been friends ever since. Next was Jason who I actually met through Matt. When Matt moved Jason and I stayed friends. In Jr High I met a few other guys who later became part of my Band of Brothers. Phillip and Rick. I hung out with these guys alot through jr high and freshman year of highschool. Then there was Ben, Steve, and Ryan through highschool.
Ryan left the country for a few years, Ben and I moved to the bay area. I made two new brothers in the bay area. Scott and another guy named David. I moved to Yosemite and made more brothers. Napolean, Rob, Brian, Larry, John, Mark, Aaron, Drinker John (John B), and Doug. There are a few others from Yosemite, but I was never as close to them as I was to these guys.
After Yosemite I moved home Aaron was the one who I hung out with the most at this time.
Others would be my cousins: Paul, Troy, and Phillip. My brother in law Brian, and of late my newest brother Shane.
Over the years I have lost touch with some of these guys. Every now and again I run into one of them, or get some new from another. I now live about 2 hours north of Matt and we have been planning on getting together. It just always keeps falling through. Jason moved away during highschool and I haven't heard from him since then. Oddly enough he was a skater and in the Civil Air Patrol. He wanted to be in Pararescue. I wonder if he made it. Rick died of cancer a few years ago and is greatly missed. Phillip joined the army, went awol, and the last I heard he was the assistant manager at a Big 5 Sporting Good store. I almost forgot Jose but he was one of my brothers when I first moved out of my house and Pat a guy I used to work with. Ben is now a youth pastor at a church in the bay area. Steve still lives in Merced and got married. Ryan is finishing college or just finished college, and I think he is engaged. Jose is now also married. Pat is married with 2 kids and last time I talked to him he had a good paying job and was back in college part time. Scott got married. Moved to CO, joined the military and moved back to the bay. David was a fellow dance instructor. He left dancing and became a realistate agent, then starting dancing again part time. Bob left Yosemite and went back to school. Brian met a guy and they are planning on opening a bead and breakfast or something like that. Napolean is fast on his way to becoming one of the top natural body builders and still living in Yosemite. Doug is still working in Yosemite. Larry was working with a contracter. Mark and John were still living in the park and climbing. John got married. Drinker john was arrested and moved back east and was working at a toy store. Aaron is married. My brother in law Brian is busy being married to my sister and being a father to there two kids. Every now and then Beth lets us sneak out to go play. My cousins are living together again in Sac. I see Shane almost everyday at work. Kalin and Adam are also members of this list, we work and play also. And TJ too.
Anyway I realized that my cousins are lucky, and so am I. Even though I do not have the same parents I consider all of these fellows to be my brothers. This is my Band of Brothers.
Thanks guys for everything. Wherever you are and whatever you may be doing. Good luck to all of you, and I hope to hear from y'all soon.

To redo what was done. Then erased.

2004-06-10T21:49:00.000-05:00

Here we go again.
My best child hood friend introduced me to blogging. I usually read his blogs on a regular basis. I have refrained from commenting on them as not to offend, but then I thought why else do I have a blog.

He recently went to a bull fight. He said that he was unsure what to think of it but that because he hunts that he figured if they ate the bull afterwards that it would probably be ok.

This is what I think:
Normal bullfight. A bunch of guys stab a bull to death while it is trapped in an arena. They have another way. I have another friend that went to a humaine bull fight. Everything is the same except the swords deliver colored chalk or something like that instead of wounds. The ulitmate goal is not to kill the bull, but to put chalk on it in all the places you would need to stab it in order to kill it, then ultimatly wear it into submition. I personally think that would probably be more of a challenge and require more skill to do it this way.

Now don't get me wrong. If I ever had an oppertunity to go to a bull fight I probably would, same with hunting (at least once). I don't fault him for going at all, or being a hunter.

Being a well rounded outdoorsman I have certain ideals that stick with me in all areas of my life. Like "Leave No Trace" and "Style". Style is what I feel is applied most accuratly here. Climbing is my passion. Style applied in the climbing/outdoors world as how you would achieve your goal. Like for instance you could climb a route by hanging off of gear, pounding protection into the rock that damages the rock, and chipping holds into the rock. All of which is considered to be extremely bad style, and in the world of climbing, other climbers will not acknowledge that you have climbed any route that has been climbed in bad style. On the other end of things you could climb a route without damaging the rock, using your body only, and using gear that will not damage the rock to protect yourself from a fall only.

What this comes down to is: Do the ends justify the means? I believe I have just shown that the "means" is everything.

I do not know the history of bull fighting, but I would assume that it was something like this. Peasants that did not have access to anything other than swords and such had to kill a bull for A. some sort of ritualistic sacrafice, B. to eat, or C. both. A bullfight was probably the safest and most practicle way of achieving this. Now with the more humaine way of bull fighting I don't see that there is a purpose for the old way. I believe it to be cruel. If the bull is used to eaten afterwards etc...you could fight him the new way then put a gun to his head and get it over with as quickly and painlessly as possible.

I think that the humaine way takes more skill, and is done in better style or form if you will. Otherwise hunters would just grab there guns and go to the zoo and climbers would have a helicopter drop him off at the top.

On to other things:
Guns: It is amazing how much guns dictate politics. Being in OK now I have learned alot more about guns. The assualt weapons ban for instance. Did you know that technicly assault weapons are defined as a weapon with select fire switch. This is a little switch that alows you to control the rate of fire (one round one squeeze, three rounds one squeeze, and full auto, one squeeze and the bullets don't stop untill you run out.)
What they have banned are not guns that are semiautomatic (bullets go as fast as you can squeeze the trigger.) You can still buy those. What they have banned are rifels with bayonette lugs and collapsable stocks. Honestly if you were going to commit a crime and use a m-16 are you going to use the knife on the front, or the bullets. Secondly who cares if the stock folds in. People are affraid they would be easier to conceal.
I am a firm believer that guns don't kill people, people kill people. We are told often of how these guns are used in crimes. We aren't told how many of these were obtained.
more about this later...

Faimily Circus:
Well my nephew learned a new word..."Flag" the only problem is he hasn't figured out how to include the "L" with the rest of the word. So he's running around yelling fag everytime he see's a flag. Well my sister had him at the mall the other day. There is a flag right above the entrance. Bug is pointing saying "look mama fag" and repeating himself. The funny part is that two gay guys walked out and thought bug was directing his comments at them. My sister had know idea what to say. Right aftwards she called me and we laughed about it for a while. Good times.

Sadies Corner:
Well the other day I was eating and Jess was making a sandwich. All of a sudden it starting raining peanut butter. Something hit my nose and landed in my bowl. It was a big glob of peanut butter. It was soo good. It gave me the runs for two days, but it was worth every minute of it. We have been staying inside alot because of the rain, but I'm hoping for a sunny Saturday.

Untill next time, and hopefully I won't delete this one....LOL

Ooooppppsssss!!!!!!

2004-06-09T14:49:00.000-05:00

Well, yesterday I wrote this great blog. We talked about bullfighting, climbing, hunting, my nephew's new word and the humorous situation it put my sister in and much more. I spent about an hour writing it. Then instead of posting it I it the nice little x at the top right hand corner of this window. I thought ohhhh @#%&! It didn't save it as a draft. So if I do not work any overtime tonight I will attempt to write it again.
Although, it was already written once.
Right now I am on my lunch break. I just beat a guy 2/3 in ping pong. That is my normal lunch thing.
Well I will probably write more tonight.
To be continued...

Why adults always say:

2004-06-01T22:47:00.000-05:00

Have you ever wondered why your parents always told you to enjoy your childhood? This thought crossed my mind the other night. I was driving home from hanging out with some friends. The smell of summer in the air, nice warm breeze. I was happy. I couldn't wait for summer vacation. It's right around the corner. Then I remembered that I was a grown up. That I wasn't going to have a summer vacation. At least not one that would last longer than two weeks.
I was thinking about all the good times. Staying out as late as I wanted...sleeping in as late as I wanted. Going to the lake, the mountains, rollerblading at three in the morning, cruising. Doing whatever, whenever, and followed any whim. We were great as long as we had money to do what we wanted to and some sort of transportation, and food. Needed money you just did a little extra yard work for mom and dad. Needed food, you just checked the fridge. Needed transportation, mom and dad, rollerblades, bikes, walked, friend with a car, sooner or later transportation was found.
You have all of this as a kid. Not a care in the world other than get your chores done, and have fun. Every kid is in such a hurry to grow up and get out and every adult is saying cherrish this time.
When you grow up nights like these are few and far between. You can't do some extra yard work for your parents to get extra cash. You go to work, you go home, eat, sleep, repeat. You live for the weekends, but they suck when you don't have money to do anything. You pay bills, have to budget your money, and live with out. You pay for gas, buy your own tires, take care of your own maitnance on a car, pay insurance. You wake up and think what a wonderfull day, then you spend it at work instead of playing.
Then your parents tell you they wouldn't go back to highschool if you paid them. Now you are confused. Think about it though. You don't know who you are, but you think you do. In most cases you have never experianced even half the things your average 25 year old has. You have to ask for everything, permission, money, rides, etc...Does he/she like me? Will anyone notice this zit? etc...etc...etc...
As an adult you would never trade the freedom of being on your own. Never having to ask for permission for anything. Your body is not going crazy, you know who you are, and most importantly you don't really care what others think of you, well for the most part...lol
So where is the line? Every kid wants to be an adult. In all honesty every adult wants not to be a kid, but the freedom from responsibility that a kid has. I have great memories of growing up. Sadly like so many I was in a rush to grow up, and now like most adults I wish I had an endless supply of money and basicly everything that was great about being a kid and everything great about being an adult. Like many I have come to the painfull relization that this will not happen.
Cheers to GI Joe with Matt and Jason, riding bikes and swimming with Rick and Phillip, endless adventures in the woods with my cousins, all night jam sessions and missions with Steve and Ben. Cheers to growing up, and paying rent, getting a good nights sleep, earning what you have, cherrished childhood memories. Most of all, Cheers to being able to tell kids to cherish their childhood and then confusing them by telling them you would never trade places with them. By the way for all the kids out there reading this, messing with kids is just part of the fun us adults have what makes it even better is you won't even realize it until you are older.

Skunk Attack:
All said and done it was an adventure. Kind of like camping with your family where hardship makes the bonds stronger. The most humorous part of this happened a few weeks later. Brian, a trainer for the same company I work at is telling our skunk story to his new training class. One of the girls in the back of the class pipes up saying "Let me guess, Panzer, Sadie, Missy, and Jake right?" Brian is shocked and replies "Yeah how did you know?" She says, "I had to bath them, and I stunk for three days afterwards." Well we all got a good laugh out of that. Is it any wonder she works for us instead of the vet now. We could start our own style of recruiting. At least we could probably get alot of vet techs...LOL

Family Circus:
Well I have to say thank you to Brians family. They have gone out of there way to make me feel welcome and like I am part of the family. Our prayers go out to Phillip and his family while he recovers from a recent kidney transplant.
Dad is coming out here for fathers day. It will be his first oppertunity to hold his granddaughter and he will then drive Beth and the kids back to CA with him for a visit. Beth is excited about that. So is everyone else in the family.
Meanwhile Brian and I plan to use this time to do guy things like shoot guns, watch endless guy movies, and yes maybe even do a little yard work.

Sadie's Corner:
Well I have been have a blast with Jesse and his friends. I miss Panzer and Aunt Beth and Uncle Brian. I've been invited over to play this weekend. I can't wait.

The differences:
Tornado's vs Earthquakes:
There are sirens that warn you about tornados...with earthquakes, well they just kind of happen.
People die in earthquakes. People die in tornados. No warning for earthquakes. Warning for tornados. Conclusion to die in a tornado you must be one stupid person. Even if the warning is short you still have a warning.
News happens before and after the tornado gets to you. New only happens after an earthquake.
More to come...

Work:
Well what can I say. I like my job but work sucks. I'd rather be on summer vacation. Maybe I should become a teacher. Three best things and all that.

Women Search:
Well...I got sick of having long hair, so I cut it off. Next day a waitress at Hooters was hitting on me. What can I say, other than I hope it goes somewhere.

More to come....

Hump Day

2004-05-19T23:31:00.000-05:00

Disclaimer: For those of you not up on office lingo Hump Day in no way refers to acts of a sexual nature. Even if we wanted it to. It refers specificly to Wednesday. The middle or hump if you will to the work week. It's all down hill from here. Kind of like everyone reading this who's over 40. LOL
Skunk Attack:
So the four of us are standing outside in the front yard. The good news is our sinus are clear. The bad news is our sinus's are clear. All of the animals are still in the house. We finally get brave enough to get the animals into the front yard with us. Since Sadie has not been sprayed she is put into my car.
Brian and I take turns running into the house, getting the things we need out of it and opening windows, doors, turning on fans, etc...
Meanwhile Beth takes my nephew (we call him Bug) and bails on us over to her in laws house. She does remain helpfull. She calls the vet and gets the solution to take care of skunk smell. Oddly enough it is not tomato paste or sauce, or tomato anything. It is: Hydrogen peroxide, dish detergent (like dawn), and baking soda. Beth, David (Brians's dad) pull up with the ingrediants. Our cells are still in the house. We didn't know. Brian and I were already knee deep scrubing panzer with Tomato Paste, and yes we even broke out the Ragu. Panzer is their collie german shepard mix. She took the brunt of the hit. The new solution did help. Now Brian and I are getting tired and start thinking about me calling in sick. This is not a good thing to do durning training. You miss one day you are fired. Caught sleeping you are fired. So at about 7am Brian and I are standing in the drive way also bathing in this solution. I haven't slept and I go to work. I'm hoping to explain my situation to my trainer and get the day off. All I smell is skunk. I can't tell if I actually smell like it. Our security gaurd is the first person that I see. I have to ask. I ask him if I smell like a skunk. He can't smell anything. Fastforward training is mostly reading that day. Class room is dark and cool. Perfect sleeping conditions. I made it through. I get over to Brian's parents house. Beth has bought Brian and I some temporary clothes. I get in the shower first thing. My clothes are put in the wash first thing. After the shower I say hi to Sadie and the other dogs, and cat. They are in the back. Beth had them groomed. Panzer was done six times or something like that. Missy three times. Sadie twice. Dogs do not smell any longer. Apparently Sadie had laid next to Panzer when I left to work. Friends for life, together through thick and smelly.
Then Beth, Brian, and I decide to go out for pizza. We are all sleep deprived. Brian was getting some more pizza, and I don't remember what I said but Beth and I were laughing so hard. It was good times.
I must remind you that for about a week any time I had a stiff drink, something spicy, or did anything that opened my sinus I would smell skunk again. Gross.
More of Oklahoma adventures: The skunk fiasco to come.

The differences:
Oklahoma is humid. California is not. This has it's impact in some of the most bizzare places. In CA I would buy a huge bag of chips. I have always finished a bag of chips before the became stale. Here you can not eat the chips fast enough. After about two, three days tops you have to through the bag away and get a new one.

Today:
SSDD. At work we recieved a nice break today. One of our systems was down so we got to visit, play on the net, etc...For those of you that don't know I work in the wireless industry. There is a commercial out right now basicly selling our signal strength. One of my friends and I were laughing today because it we are eimployees of this same company. One of the biggest employee complaints is loss of signal. Ohhh the irony. Then I cleaned my apartment and did a load of laundry.

Sadies Corner:
I played with Jess today, and mostly laid around the house. Jess brushed me today and then vacumed me. It's because I'm shedding my winter coat. I like to be brushed. He usually does it every day. I'm still not sure what to think of the vacume though.

Family Circus:
Ok. So I called my sister to wish her a happy mothers day. She tells me to be sure to call mom on her cell because she is at grandma's. I call her cell and leave a message. Later that night I go to bed. The next day I had a call from my dad reminding me to call mom. MOM NEEDS TO CHECK HER VOICEMAILS. I've tried calling a few other times, but they are always so busy I'm constantly missing them. So MOM IF YOU ARE READING: HAPPY MOTHERS DAY AND I LOVE YOU.

Until next time...

Another Day, Another Dollar

2004-05-18T20:18:00.000-05:00

The Saga of the move continues:
So...When last we left our hero's:
My dad and Paul were on there way back to California. My sister and I were going to get my new drivers license. My dad and Paul had come back to get their brownies. Repeat the wave thing. As soon as they are out of sight my sister and I jump into her car. On the way to the DL place and we pass my dad and Paul on the freeway.

1st day in my new state:
We have to go to three different places just to get my license. I never thought I'd say this, but I miss the CA DMV. The good new is they look at my CDL and just approve me for a new ODL. After hours of waiting in an unairconditioned office we have to make one more stop. We have to get my actual license. They take my picture and 2 minutes later I had it. Much to my disappointment they took my CDL. They wouldn't let me keep it. Bastards. Good news is I don't have to get new plates or tags until my old ones expire. I'll be damned if they get both of my plates. I'm taking one off before I even go down there. That is all taken care of.
Off to the vet:
We go to the vet and get Sadies new license also. I also give them Sadies medical records. The vet out here was pretty nice.
After that we get pizza at pizza hut and go home.
I have the next two weeks off, and just enough money to get me throw to my first check. I'm looking at a pretty boring few weeks. My sister actually let me rearrange my room the way I wanted it. They also have satellite TV. I never thought I'd say this but with over 300 channels I still couldn't find anything on I wanted to watch.
They kept my nephew in daycar because they would have had to pay for it anyway. I drove back and forth to work a few times just to make sure that I new how to get there.
Finally I started work. My new job looks interesting. I'm meeting some new people but most are older and married. No real chance of going out there. I make it through my first week of work. Woo Hoo.
Second week of work:
I'm home and I go to bed early. Sadie and I are in my room. About 12:00a I smell this weird smell. I thought Beth had put some shoes in a dryer and they were burning or something. Next thing I know Beth is knocking on my door. She is gagging and saying to grab my nephew and get out of the house. That we had been sprayed by a skunk.
I wasn't sure if it was still in the house, so I put Sadie in her kennel. We always go in and out through the garage. Little do I know that they had put one of the dogs that had been sprayed in there. I throw the dog back into the garage and go to double check the rest of the house. I meet Beth, Brain, and my nephew on the way out. We are now outside.
More of the skunk attack next time...

Monday (yesterday)
Well I did the work thing. The weekend had felt real short. Work goes pretty well. I played ping pong at lunch with some friends. Finally work is over. I go home and play with my dog. Good times. I pretty much chill for the rest of the night.
Tuesday:
Well pretty much the same thing today as yesterday. Chill Time.

The differences:
The ocean: described by a Californian: It's beautiful, "totally knarly breakers dude" etc...
The ocean as actually described by an Oklahoman I know at work: "Well it's bout as blue as a bottle of Windex!"

Woman Search:
Still no new developments. I haven't seen my neighbor either.

Sadies Corner:
Well it's been normal weekdays for me. Jesse plays with me and walks me in the morning and when he gets home from work. I got some hotdog today. I love hotdogs.

Family Circus:
Well dad is coming out soon to see my niece dedicated. Then my sister and her kids are going back to California with my dad for a visit. Brian (brother in law) and I get stuck doing yard work at their house.

The only reason Sunday sucks is because it's followed by Monday

2004-05-16T22:33:00.000-05:00

The Move Part II:
Sadies nocturnal mischief:
During that night Sadie went bed hopping. Ultimately she finally settled down and went to sleep. She left a little puddle for Paul to step in first thing in the morning. It was not good times. We got up, had breakfast took Sadie out to use the restroom got gas and we were off.
Day 2:
ultimately the morning was pretty uneventful. We stopped at a Loves truck stop for gas and lunch around noon. Let Sadie out again. We were somewhere in New Mexico at this time if I recall correctly. Again after this travel was pretty uneventfully. My back was getting worse. So it was quite painful.
We enter Texas, pass through Austin and decide to skip on the steaks. About 3-4 hours away from the my sister's house (my temporary home) we stop at a gas station. It's a pretty routine gas stop until my dad realizes that he had locked the keys to the Suburban in the Suburban. It's humorous now but at the time I was in pain and just looking forward to getting to sleep in a comfortable bed. About an hour later the lock guy got there and we were on the way again.
We get into Oklahoma and stop at another Love's for gas and snack and a break for Sadie. We could have gone further but we would have had to stop for gas again sooner or later.
There was a bus there. Full of women. (Thank you God!!!)
Huge line for the ladies room.
I'm a man. No line for the men's room again (Thank you God!!!)
It was so humid I had to run my air conditioner. Not because it was hot, but my dash and steering wheel were getting wet with the windows open.
We finally got to my sisters house and our new home. My sister and brother in law had a room all set up for me. We let the dogs meet. That was interesting. Visit for a while, then it's off to bed. Ahhhh bed, such a wonderful place. Sunday morning we go to my nephew's dedication, then over to Jan and David's house for lunch. That afternoon, we unload everything, another evening full of visiting, and off to bed.
Next morning it was time to see my dad and Paul off. My sister made a huge breakfast and some brownies for dad and Paul's trip home. (I probably should have mentioned this sooner, but Pauls daughter made us cookies for the trip out here. They are to die for.) It's always hard saying bye. My dad waived to us until he was out of sight. He's done that ever since we were little. It was kind of nostalgic, familiar and comfortable. Felt good. I think it was easier for Beth and I to say goodbye because I was staying.
Beth also had taken off the day from work to show me around and take care of some things for me. Any way dad had forgotten his brownies, and turned around and came back for them. We said goodbye all over again and just after they left, we did.
My sister has changed a lot. She drives like a maniac. We actually passed my dad and Paul on there way out of town.
That day with Beth to be continued.

The weekend:
Yesterday Sadie and I had a kind of lazy day. We slept in and lounged around the house. We went out to the lake that evening for some fetch, swimming, and in general just some running around. My friend Shane met us there and we had a good time with Sadie.
We both were hungry, so we dropped Sadie off at home and went out for dinner. We then decided to split up and go to a club later or a movie later. He was going to call me with movie times, and if we couldn't make it, it was off to a club. Anyway I left my phone in his van. To make a long story short we ended up at a club called Grahams. On the way out we ran into my neighbor and her friend. Two beautiful women, dressed up and ready to go out. (Thank you God!!!) Shane tells them that we are going to Grahams and they say they are going to a club called Mardigras. As we were leaving they made a point to tells "hey if we don't see you at Grahms then we'll see you at Mardigras. Goodtimes. We get to Grahms, and they made me turn my hat around. That is a no no. Any way they have a country side, and a hip hop side. It sucked. The ugly to hot ration was way out of wack. I'd say about 40 uglies to ever one hot. I did get to see my first country dancing: The two step, line dances, and swing. Interesting. One of the few country songs I know "The watermelon Crawl" was not played. Apparently it is also a line dance, but they don't do it at that club. No one new why. Shane and I decide this place is dead. Off to find my neighbors. We get to Mardigras after a brief detour (Shane forgot were it was). Only to find out that they won't let us in because Shane was wearing a T-shirt, and I was wearing a hat. Back to Grahms. We had a pretty humorous time. I learned a thing or two. Like those funky cowboy shirts that look like you are in Jacobs robe of many colors are called brush poppers. Again no one could tell me why. Shane was hit on. I wasn't. Easy come easy go. Get home, and hanging out, outside. The neighbor girls get back, say hi and then go in their apartment. I hope they don't think we stood them up. Who knows? Went to bed.
Today I got to talk to my bestfriend Aaron. He still lives in California. It is always good to hear from him. Then I went out to Chinese food and saw "Van Hellsing" with Shane. Good food. Good movie. Back home to do chores and hang out with Sadie. Talked to Aaron some more.

The differences between the West Coast and the Heartland:
Pick up lines:
California: Girl picks up on you says "What type of car do you drive?"
Oklahoma: Girls says "I betcha didn't know you were plucked when you walked in here."

Woman Search:
No new developments from the last entry. Although I wouldn't mind getting to see my neighbor again.

Sadie's Corner:
Yesterday was great. Jesse took me to the lake and let me swim, and play fetch. I got to do a lot of running around. My friend Shane came out to play with me too. He fed me potato chips. I love potato chips. He's a good friend. Then I went home and took a nap because I was tired. Today Jesse left for a few hours, but for the most part we got to hang out all day.

Family:
No news at this time.+

Friday is Good Times

2004-05-15T13:07:00.000-05:00

The move:
We left California with a late start. Mostly my fault for two reasons: 1. I didn't pack until the last minute. 2. I forgot to get something, so we just picked it up on the way out. It was my glass bookshelves. Ironically enough I still left the screws in California.
The entourage consisted of Sadie and I in my car, and my dad and his friend Paul in the Suburban pulling a small trailer.
We are heading south on HWY 99. I'm following behind to make sure that the trailer was tied down properly. I figured that after about half an hour of doing 65 we'd bump it up to at least 75. We wouldn't be making record time to Bakersfield, but we'd be making good time.
We didn't 60-65 all the way there.
It's hot but not too bad. We stop in Bakersfield to let Sadie out, and let her have a drink. The vet advised that we should stop every few hours for her.
Mojave here we come:
We left Bakersfield and got on our junction that would take us to I40 and my new home. We get to the Mojave and it's HOT!!! We had originally planned to be leaving the Mojave by early morning. It was about 3:00p when we got there. We stopped for some food and gas. I let Sadie out. Gave her some water and walked her around a bit. Then we hit the road again. About 10 minutes on the road I had a funky sneeze that caused my back to spasm. Needless to say the rest of the trip was a painfull one for me. I thought for sure that we would be traveling faster now. It was Pauls turn to drive. He had to get used to the trailer too. 60-65. Now in case you don't know me, I am not usually a speed limit person. I had made this trip before and I made much better time. I made enough extra time that I made the trip in two days and still had time to get a good nights sleep and see some of the sights. This time we also had a deadline. My nephew was being dedicated on Sunday. It was Friday when we left.
We stop at some little town just across the Arizona boarder. Do the dog thing, the gas thing, and I try to strech my back, but it's not doing to well. Back on the road again.
Off to Flagstaff:
I am still unclear as to who was driving this leg. If it was my dad or Paul. I was happier though, whomever it was drove faster. Then we ran into some bad weather and believe it or not a traffic jam. They are redoing one lane at a time on I40. We finally get to Flagstaff and stop at McDonald's for dinner. It's about 9:00pm. Sadie was happy she got hamburgers. Her first ones ever.
We decide to stay the night there and waist about an hour looking for a hotel room. They were all booked. By this time I'm tired. I had slept for maybe three hours the night before. Drove all day and my back was hurting. Just shoot me and put me out of my misery. We ended up driving about another hour and found a hotel on our first try.
We stayed the night there. I was even more happy to find out that our room had three beds. We took Sadie out to use the restroom, gave her some food and water. The old guys called home. Then we went to bed.
Stay tuned for Day 2 of the move and Sadies nocturnal mischief.
Yesterday Friday May 14th, 2004
Sadie and I did the walk thing in the morning. We ate breakfast. I took a shower and went to work. Work went well. It always does on Fridays. I went home and let Sadie out during my lunch hour because I was going out with some friends after work, so I thought she could use a break. Anyway we get off work and it's down to the ping pong room. We played ping pong until about 9:30-10:00 then the four of us went off to Hooters.
Ahhhh Hooters, it's one of my new favorite past times. The crew that night was my friend Shane, Adam, Kalen (pronounced coleen, he's from Romania), and myself. It was Kalen's first time to this wonderful establishment. It was goodtimes. Good food, great service, it's starting to become our "Cheers". Plus they serve Corona (my beer of choice). Most of the time it's just jokes and non important banter, but last night we got off on to politics and religion. The first thought that crossed my mind was "ok, who's going to start fighting first?" No one did. I guess you could say that is a mark of maturity and friendship. You know you have a good friends when you can respect each others opinions even if you disagree with them. We left Hooters at about 1:15a. Good times.
I went home, and let Sadie out. She was so happy to see me. Then off to bed.
The differences between West Coast and Heartland:
Nice people:
I was at a gas station filling up my tank and someone Honked and yelled at me "Hey hurry up you S.O.B." I didn't recognize the voice and thought these are fighten words. I turned around to give him a mouthful, and it was a guy I had met at work earlier that day.
Pickles:
I don't know what it is out here but for some reason sweet pickles are the thing. I am a dill pickle guy. Even some restaurants serve sweet pickles. (Gross)Pickles should just not be sweet.
Adult beverages:
CA: pretty much is buy anything, anywhere, anywhen.
Here: They do not sell anything higher than 3%abv in grocery stores. You have to go to a liquor store. Which by the way close on Sundays and oddly enough some liquor stores actually have drive throws. I just think that is trouble waiting to happen. Also they have something out here called dry counties. Means no beer. They suck.
Woman Search:
Well my search for Mrs. Right continues. I've met a few women out here.
Note #1 Hooters waitress'get asked out all the time. I think they are immune to my charm.
Note #2 Don't date anyone at work. I haven't tried it, but I just don't think that it's a good idea.
Work and Hooters out.
Note #3 Dating service websites don't work. I had joined two. Both I felt had unacceptable results.
1st was Eharmony.com they charge to much. Take to long, and most matches in my case were a bust.
2ond will remain nameless. Lets just say that matches there email you links to their porn site instead of letters. If I was interested in porn I would just buy it. Not look for it on what operates under the guise of a dating service.
dating services are out.
Must find a new barrel.
Although there is a real nice lady running around somewhere with my number. Maybe she'll use it. Who knows?
Tonight:
Looks like lake, shower, food, movies.
Sadie's corner:
I am happy. I get walked twice a day. I don't need a rabies shot this year because the one I got last year was for two years. I get to go swimming at the lake every weekend. It's a good thing my flea and tick control is waterproof. Jesse still makes me take those heartworm things everymonth. He says it's just in case but I don't mind, they taste good. I like his new friends. They spoil me. More about me later. Jesse wants the keyboard back.
Family:
Will appear sooner or later, but I would much rather be at the lake with my dog than typing so until next time.

Thursday May 13, 2004

2004-05-13T21:06:00.000-05:00

So a few weeks ago my friend IM's me. He tells me to check out his website. I do. I think it's cool. I have always wanted to have my own sort of Doogie Howser thing, now I do.
My latest adventure started last August. I up and moved from California to the heartland. Talk about landlocked. I'm in Oklahoma now.
Sadie (my dog) and I lived with my sister, her husband, and my nephew for about 2 months. Then I got my own place. I think everyone breathed a sigh of relief with that one.
I'll post a little more of this story every day.
This section will be about some of the differences I've noticed between California and Oklahoma.
1st one people out here are nice.
Example 1:
First week here I went out to lunch. At the restaurant a girl just jumped right in the conversation I was having with my friend. She was just being nice, and talkative. The first thing that crossed my mind was "She needs to go back to her Dr. and have the dosage on her medication changed.
Example 2:
I was walking my dog around my sister's neighborhood at about 10pm on a Friday night. A car slowly rolls by me then stops about three houses down from me. Then with it's headlights blacked out tears off down the street. I thought this is suspicious. Then I continued on my walk. 3 minutes later it happens again. Now I'm thinking that they are getting ready to A. Do a drive by on me, or B. Rob me. Car does the same thing as before. Finally they do it a 3rd time about 3 minutes later. This time they only stop about a house in front of me. I thought, "Damn I wish I was carrying."
Then two kids jump out of the car, run up to the front door of the house, ring the doorbell, jump in the car and take off. They were door bell ditching.
Now for today:
Today I got up around 7am. Took my dog for a walk, and went to work. I live for weekends. Wooooooo Hooooooo. I have endeavored upon the never ending quest to become a master of ping pong. I'm getting better. I actually win every now and then. Then tonight I came home. Took Sadie for a walk. Ate dinner, and now I'm making my web page. Wooo Hooo.