Hello you happy peoples...

My long lost (or not) friends! How are you all doing? It's been some time since I last blogged. I do apologize for leaving such a crucial part of your life empty for so long. Truly, I should not have waited so long. What's happened since I last got on here? Let's see...

It's been six weeks since my last post. Ike had just gone away and the city looked like crap. Sadly, there are still a whole bunch of places even around here that still look like crap. There are people on Eldridge Pkwy just today getting their fences replaced. Probably just cuz their insurance companies are overloaded. I dunno...

So, what else? Katelyn can almost crawl now. It's crazy, she's seven months old tomorrow, and all the sudden she's scooting all around everywhere. She has two little teeth we like to call "teefers" for some reason. It sounds cuter when you say it out loud.

Have you voted yet? We did early voting. I didn't want to at the time, just because it ended up with me being a little rushed for work, but it worked out a lot better than it would have if we had gone later. I heard that some people have had to wait like three hours to vote. That's nuts. But at least people are voting.

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So yeah, I started that post two days ago and am now finishing it.  I took the TCLEOSE exam today.  It's the test you take if you want to become a police officer.  That is a stinkin' hard test.  Glad it's over.

In other news, Daylight Savings being over was wonderful.  That extra hour of sleep was terrific.  Did you wake up/go anywhere early?  I did.  I woke up at 6:30 instead of 7:30.  For a weekend, that's way too early.

This is a bunch of random thoughts put together, so I'm going to go for now.  When I think of something better to say, I'll try to post again.   Later,

$

Been a While...

My friends and readers, I am back.  It's been some time since I last spoke to you, and of course, much has happened.  I'm sure by now you all know about hurricane Ike.  I worked quite a bit of overtime during the storm, so I'm not complaining, but I'd like to talk about this last week if I might.

Melissa and Katelyn have been gone since Thursday.  It's the longest I've ever been away from Melissa and the first time I've ever been away from Katelyn.  I miss them both so much.  I just found out they're coming home tomorrow, so at least it will be better soon.  It's been weird being all alone for so long - it'll end up being 11 days total.  That's a long time.  I've been surviving, so don't freak out (thanks very much).  Many friends and family members have been watching out for me, and for the hospitality, I thank you.

We got power back here on Sunday afternoon, so we haven't really been hurting over here.  I did have to throw away everything in my refrigerator; that wasn't fun.  It's a pretty depressing sight.  A lot of people in my Academy class still don't have power.

So yeah, I went and saw Traitor.  It's a pretty good movie.  It's a little strange because it's coming from the viewpoint of Islamic terrorists, and they're not usually portrayed as the "good guys."  NOTE: I'm not putting personal feelings about this, because I don't want to start a discussion.  I'm just saying it was strange to see it from that viewpoint.  Pretty good movie overall.  I'm excited to watch "Righteous Kill" when I get a chance.  It's a Robert DeNiro/ Al Pacino movie about some cops.  Can't go wrong there, huh? :)

Well, only have 9 weeks left in the academy - very excited about that.  Means we've got a total of 44 working days left.  I know, you're thinking, "isn't 9 weeks of 5 days equal 45?"  Yes, it does, but we have Veteran's Day off.

OK, going to bed now.  I had thought about making a nice long post, but I'm just too tired.  Later,

$

Can You Believe It?

Surprise!!  I'm not dead!!  It has truly been forever since my last post.  I don't even remember the last time I posted.  Yes, I could have checked, but I didn't feel like it.  So how have you been?  If you're reading this, then yes, I mean you.  Please, leave a response involving my question.  Don't leave me feeling alone and unwanted.

So gosh, what all has happened since I last posted??  I am in the police academy right now.  We're in week 15, and good grief it's hard!  I can't go into detail as to what we're doing, but believe me it IS hard.  I'm learning so much I can hardly process all of it.  I'm not allowed to post pictures yet, or I'd do that, so just imagine me in a very professional uniform.

Here's weird for you:  I am listening to (and of course singing with) John Mayer.  Yeah, I used to think he looked like a crazy strung-out druggie, but since he cut his hair and started dating Jennifer Aniston, I figured he seems pretty normal, and he really has some pretty good music.

Have you ever watched an episode of FRIENDS?  It's my favorite TV show ever, and I only got to watch it for the last couple seasons.  Yeah, we weren't allowed to watch it when we were younger.  I understand why, because it's not exactly a show about role models, but it's funny and I connect with the characters.

So Katelyn is Four and a half Months old now!  She's getting so big now.  I don't have any pictures with me right now, but I'm sure there are plenty on Melissa's blog (check my LINKS list on the right).  She found her toes last week and figured out how to roll over.  It's so stinkin' cute.  I can't believe how fast it's going.

Wanna hear something weird?  I can't think of a whole lot to talk about!  Yeah, well I used to catch my inspiration from my job and things I read online while I was "working."  I can't really talk about what's going on at my job now, so it's kinda hard to think of stuff to talk about.

...

...

...

OK, someone leave a comment and give me a topic to talk about.  If I'm gonna keep this blog going, I'm gonna need a topic to work with.  Help me out people!!!

Later,

$

No, I'm not dead...

Dear Friends and Family,

Yes, I know it's been forever and you probably can't believe that I'm actually posting. Before you get your hopes up, I don't have that terrible much to talk about. The Academy is going well, but I'm not sure how much I'm allowed to talk about on the internet. I'll find out later and tell you all about it. I can tell you that getting up at 4 AM every day is getting a little old. I get about four hours of sleep each night and if you've ever been a parent, you know that's pretty decent sleep, but I'd prefer at least two more hours than that. Melissa can testify that I'm doing my PT (Physical Training) because I am (finally) developing some nice muscles (Pictures to come later...maybe). :) We start our Skills training in about two weeks. Skills consist of Driving, Shooting, and Defensive Tactics. We are all very excited to get a break from the classroom and endless lectures. I have missed being able to update you all on totally random crap from my head all the time, but please know it's either take time to blog or spend time with my wife and daughter and they will always be more important.

So if you read melissa's blog (ordinaryexultations.blogspot.com) you'll see that katelyn is growing big and strong. She has recently discovered how to use her voice so sometime's we're blessed with some very cute cooing and other times with totally random screeching. she's not usually upset, just experimenting with her abilities I suppose.

Anyway, I'm going to go for now. Maybe once we start skills I'll put up a picture of me in my uniform. Hey, at least it would be something. Later,

$

For those of you that don't read other people's comments, James was "friendly" enough to update all of you on my life.  Thank you James.  Anyway, it inspired me to finally post.  I have been wanting to.  Don't think I've enjoyed torturing all of you by not posting.  I am so sorry my public.  I decided I would give you some pictures, and then I'll talk about how things have been going.

Here is a picture of some baby I saw in my car today.  She's pretty cute.  Ok so maybe she's mine.  That's right, who would have thought that half of me and half of Melissa could look so cute.  What's that, you all expected this?  Ok, well fine.  (Sigh) she's growing so big so fast.  It's speeding by.  Slow down child!  Parenting is awesome, but I don't think anyone can warn you enough.  They need to write  book about parenting called Everything they Forgot to Tell You.  Only problem with this book being that they would have to update it every six months.  They should make one of those for Marriage, too.  Again, the update rate would be a little much to keep up with.  In all seriousness though, life is awesome with my ladies.  I couldn't ask for a better home life.  My wife is the most incredible, beautiful, graceful, and patient woman in the entire world, and I love and appreciate her so much.  I'm so thrilled that Katelyn was born in time for Mother's Day.  I got her some nice stuff for tomorrow.  Ok, well I hope she thinks it's nice stuff.

I haven't talked about my motorcycle in a while, but I have added a new part, so I thought I'd mention in.  As you can see in the blurry picture (stupid cell phone), I have added a windshield to my Honda Rebel.  I think it makes the little bike look a little bigger.  It makes a huge difference on the highway, and I'm pretty sure it increases my gas mileage too.  Of course at 75 mpg, I'm sure not hurting.  I'm going to be using this bike a whole lot more in the future since I'll be driving to the Police Academy every day.  It's not that much longer of a morning commute - probably about 35 minutes now instead of 7.  Compared to some people I know that's a pretty short drive time, so I'm not complaining.  I've been so blessed by other people that this windshield is the first upgrade I've actually had to pay for.

Sweetheart, you can skip this section if you want to, because you hear so much about these every day.  I have new guns.  I sold my Glock 23 and bought a Glock 22 and a Glock 27.  For those of you that don't know (most of you), all three of the guns I just listed are all .40 caliber pistols.  The 22 is the full size model, the 23 is the compact, and the 27 is the sub-compact.  To recap in English, I got rid of the medium size and got the big and little sizes.  I'm going to use them for my duty and back up weapons when I work for HPD.  I have taken them to the range and they are wonderful.  The Glock 27 is the smallest pistol Glock manufactures.  It is TINY.  I can hide it anywhere.  Something I didn't include in the pictures is that the Glock 22 came with night sights.  They look like regular sights in the daylight, but if you get them in dim lighting or no lighting, they glow a very nice green color.

Glock 27

Glock 22

Both.

So in other news, I have finally quit my job at Best Access Systems, and I couldn't be happier about it.  After one month, I have been accepted into the Houston Police Academy.  I'm so excited to finally be on the road to Law Enforcement.  It's going to be six months before I'm on the streets, and a year until I can start doing extra jobs and fun stuff like that, but I'm working on it now.  I was so tired of waiting.  I can hardly believe that it's really happening.  I will have more to post on the academy once it starts of course.  I will keep you all updated.

I'm going to pick up dinner now (KFC, yummm), so I'll talk to you later.

$

She's Encaptured!!

My dear friends, it has been a while since the last post. I would apologize, but I've been so busy with the HPD hiring process, a hungry baby, and a tired wife that I just haven't had the time or energy to post. On the bright side, I have LOTS to talk about!

Item One: Katelyn has her days and nights mixed up. The poor thing sleeps all day long and eats all night long. She's getting better, and oh my gosh she's so cute when she sleeps. We have taken many more pictures and a few videos. Someday we're gonna be watching those videos with her future husband and she's going to wonder what was wrong with us.

Item Two: we had a lot of fun last week - we found termites in our apartment. We didn't know that's what they were at first - we just knew bugs in apartment = bad. We went to the front office and asked for help and they told us they couldn't do anything. Then they threw us out of the office. If you are ever looking for an apartment, don't choose Stonegate Villas - they don't care about you. Tell your friends. Anyway, it's been an issue - we had someone come out in 30 minutes and tell us it was termites, so I told the office on Saturday. They called me on Tuesday so say "we don't think they're really termites." Obviously that didn't sit well, so I told them to try again. They called me back with, "ok, they are termites, but we don't have anyone available to fix the problem - we'll try to squeeze you in on Wednesday." I got a call today to say "ok, our bug guy says they were blown in with the wind, so we can't do anything about it." Wonderful isn't it? So the way I see it, if no more bugs show up, we're ok. If bugs show back up, I'm going to capture some and set them loose in the front office and THEN see if they care. At least that's what I'd like to do...

Item Three: Polygraph tests are freaky! They put all this crap on you and then drill you for like two hours about lying. I was so freaked out the whole time. It's like walking through a metal detector - I'm always afraid of setting it off even though I have nothing to hide. Either way, I passed the test. Assuming HPD doesn't find anything in my background that I don't know about, I should be good to go. I'll be so glad to get out of this current job. It's almost hard to believe that in less than a month I could have my dream job. Here's to hoping it goes well!

Item Four: You're probably still wondering about the title to this post. The first week home with Katelyn was not a week of much sleep for Melissa or myself. It led to more than a couple cases of gibberish talk. Melissa tried to wake me up one night and I replied with "She's encaptured!!" I have no idea what that means. It's a product of sleep deprivation.

Item Five: If you haven't seen the movie Dan In Real Life, let me warn you - it's depressing. I watched it with Melissa the other night, and it left me so depressed by the end that I wanted to find a dark closet and hide from humanity. His character echoes so many feelings I used to have as a kid it's not even funny. Strangely enough, my parents love the movie. I dunno. I didn't like it. I liked the bloopers and the special feature on the soundtrack better than the actual movie. The music is good on that movie. Look up the artist - Sondre Lerche. He looks a little funny, but he's really good with a guitar and has a pretty good voice, too. I think I'm gonna get the soundtrack cuz it's all his music. Check it out.

I probably should get back to work, so I'm going to go for now. Leave a comment if you have any interesting news. Later,

$

My Daughter is Finally Here...

Well ladies and gents, she's finally here.  Some of you are probably thinking, what, you're only just now saying so??  But hey, when you have a brand new baby, you run out of time for a lot of things.  We've been busy not sleeping.  Don't be deceived, we couldn't really be much happier, but we are a little tired.  Our sweet princess doesn't require as much sleep as we do during normal hours.  No, she prefers to sleep when we're awake.  Oh well, one look at her, and you just can't be upset.  She's so perfect.  I have lots of pictures.  I'm only showing you a few because I haven't figured out how to get my pics from the camera, but i have a few from my cell phone that i don't think anyone else has.  Here we go...

I took this Thursday night.  Kind of a gangster look...

I just couldn't resist.

Look at those big beautiful eyes...

I think she heard a noise or something...

This is shortly after birth, I think just a couple hours...

With Grandma Susan

With Mommy right after birth...

With Grandpa Randy

How precious is that...

My favorite

About as peaceful as she gets...

With Aunt Bethany

Biiiiiiiiig yawn, liiiiiiitle mouth

At rest...

What did you just say???

This is cool because this represents a four generation span...

With Ryan

How adorable!!

Doesn't get much better than this...

Out cold...

Wish I could sleep this well...

So cute you could eat her...

Up close and personal

Mommy was tired too...

More pictures to come soon!!  Stay Tuned!!

$

Hmm...

So I wonder, how come nobody's left a comment asking where I am, how I'm doing, if I'm even still ALIVE??? Maybe you all take me for granted. Then again, only like ten people read this blog...Ok, eleven if you count the mysterious anonymous commenter (who are you?). Still, ok whatever.

So yeah, Katelyn is still not here. Baby girl is one hour away from being nine days late. She is nearing Daddy's record, and that is not necessarily a good thing. We would much rather be counting the days that she has spent outside the womb than the days that she is spending still inside. Baby girl come OUT!

This almost feels like a long weekend, but here we are again preparing to start a new work week. I am comforted by the fact that I probably won't have to finish this work week because my daughter will be born. Oh, I got to do another ride along with Jersey Village PD. That's police department for you civilians out there. Anyway, this time I got to ride with James instead of someone I've never met. We pulled over lots of people, went really fast on the highway, and arrested someone. Ok, I didn't do any of those things, but I got to watch James do them. It was really cool. The only thing more fun that going on a ride-along is being a cop on patrol and getting to do all that stuff.


What...the...HECK does "crunchy" mean????? My wife and Lynne used it tonight, and I don't understand. I thought about just asking, but then I figured, "hey, if I put in on the blog, then they'll answer on the blog, and everybody else will get to learn, too!" So smart am I.

Can't think of anything else for now. Later,

$

Day 283

So, we're three days late. Still no baby. That's ok though, because if she's not out yet, God must not want her out yet. That's not really any consolation to Melissa, because it means the baby is still inside her body, but at least we know she'll be here soon. Worst case she'll be two weeks late, that's about as long as we're willing to let her stay in. We're happy letting Lynne have the record among us for latest baby. Melissa has tried just about everything for getting this baby out, and Katelyn has dropped a LOT, but still no baby. We're trying not to obsess, but we want her here NOW. If she could just see all the stuff we have waiting for her, she'd be out here two weeks ago. This little girl is gonna have so many cool clothes and toys and stuff, she should come out and enjoy them. In other news, there is no other news. Umm, no seriously, no other news right now. Nothing's really going on, we're not going anywhere anytime soon other than the hospital. You will know when the baby is here - I'll post about it, and we're going to build her her own blog for pictures and stuff.

Question, when you see a movie like The Patriot, 300, or Gladiator, (I know all you women love these movies) do you care if it's 100% accurate? These three movies are on the list of the top 10 most innacurate movies. Stupid little facts. For example, in 300 the men didn't wear just the little speedo things, they wore bronze armor. So what?? What woman watching that movie wished the men were wearing more? And for the guys, we couldn't care less, because the action was great. Granted, some of the things about that movie could have been left out, but overall a good movie. You get my point. Which matters more, the accuracy or the story line? I'm gonna say the story line matters more. Unless it was something that affected me directly - some family history or something, I would rather see a good movie with a few smudged facts than watch a boring accurate movie. Aren't movies supposed to entertain anyway? I dunno. I'm not expecting a right or wrong answer here, just wanting your opinion.

Anyone see Brittany Spears on TV last night? That's right, she was on How I Met Your Mother. Her acting is even worse than her singing. Although she didn't look half bad. That poor girl just couldn't handle the fame and pressure from her younger years. Too bad. She should go get a real job or something.

Anyway, I'm gonna go for now, gotta work cuz I never know when I'm gonna leave for the baby.

P.S. Look up the news story about the woman where they took out her organs to remove cancer.

Later,

$

No, I'm not dead...

It's been a long time again, I know. Many things have been going on. Looks like we're finally selling our stupid Explorer this week!! Yay!!! That officially means that I can go ahead with my HPD application, and Melissa can for sure stay home and not go back to work. Yay! It has been a huge stress lately because if it hadn't sold, well, things would have been really tight. But that's over now, or will be by Saturday.

So I got a new phone! My Verizon account renewed so I got one of these. Oh yeah, that's totally a bowl of water. It's waterproof. How cool is that? Lynne and Melissa are insisting that it is NOT babyproof, but who cares, what really is? I'm gonna keep telling myself that it is. Oh well, it's cool.

So what's up? Melissa is due on Saturday. That's right - this Saturday. We are soooo ready for that baby to get here. Melissa has been put on modified bed rest because of high blood pressure, so one more reason she'd like the baby to get here.

I could talk much more, but I'm really behind at work and should get back to it. Later,

$

March is here!

So, guess what, we're havin' a baby this month!! I say this month, because we are totally believing that the baby will not be more than 9 days late. Plus, can you imagine being born on April Fool's Day? I think I know a person that was, but talk about getting made fun of. Yeah, she's coming out this month. We are so ready for Katelyn to be here. We have a crib, and a stroller, and a travel system, and some diapers (finally!!), and sooooo many cute clothes. If you haven't ever bought baby girl clothes for your child or someone else's child, you may not understand what I'm about to say. I want to buy one of every little outfit!! Good grief, they're all just so cute. My daughter has so many clothes already, she's not even going to wear all of them I think. We'll probably end up swapping some out for larger sizes.

So how's your week going? Yesterday was sooooooo slow, but today seems to be going much faster. Supposed to rain today. Yesterday was beautiful during the afternoon and ride home. I wish it could always be right around that temp - upper 60's to low 70's with sunshine and a couple clouds here and there. It doesn't matter that much in a car, but we bikers prefer nice weather. :)

So really, what's up? Somebody tell me something cool. Anybody seen any movies lately? Done anything exciting? I tell you what, I actually, get this, I went to work yesterday!! How crazy is that?!?! ........... Ok so I tried. I did manage to burn my arm on my exhaust pipes yesterday. It looks like my forearm got shot with a paintball. I didn't think I was that close to the pipe - I was trying to wipe some stuff off of my bike. Weird though, it doesn't hurt today.

So Melissa has officially started her maternity "leave." Yeah, permanent leave. She ain't going back there, no sir. She sent me a text on Monday morning and I quote: "This... is weird." I warned her, though. If I hear her say "I'm bored" even once, it's back to the sweat shop! Ok maybe not, but no talk of being bored. :)

So I need some opinions. My lunch for today is wrapped in aluminum foil. I left home at 7AM, and remembered to put it in the office fridge at 9:30. It's still ok, right? Hopefully so. let me know!

Later,

$

Humor For Lexophiles (Lovers of Words)

I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me.

Police were called to a day care where a 3-yr-old was resisting a rest.

Did you hear about the guy whose whole left side was cut off? He's all right now.

The roundest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference.

The butcher backed up into the meat grinder & got a little behind in his work.

To write with a broken pencil is pointless.

When fish are in schools, they sometimes take debate.

The short fortune teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.

A thief who stole a calendar got 12 months.

A thief fell & broke his leg in wet cement. He became a hardened criminal.

When the smog lifts in Los Angeles, U.C.L.A.

The dead batteries were given out free of charge.

A dentist & a manicurist fought tooth and nail.

A bicycle can't stand alone; it is two tired.

A will is a dead giveaway.

Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.

A backward poet writes inverse.

In a democracy it's your vote that counts; in feudalism, it's your Count that votes.

A chicken crossing the road: poultry in motion.

If you don't pay your exorcist you can get repossessed.

Show me a piano falling down a mine shaft & I'll show you A-flat miner.

The guy who fell onto an upholstery machine was fully recovered.

A grenade fell onto a kitchen floor in France, resulted in Linoleum Blownapart.

You are stuck with your debt if you can't budge it.

A calendar's days are numbered.

A lot of money is tainted: 'Taint yours, and 'taint mine.

A boiled egg is hard to beat.

He had a photographic memory which was never developed.

Those who get too big for their britches will be exposed in the end.

When you've seen one shopping center, you've seen a mall.

When she saw her first strands of gray hair, she thought she'd dye.

Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead to know basis.

Santa's helpers are subordinate clauses.
Acupuncture: a jab well done.

Another Week Begins

So my fellow humans, how is life? I'm tired. My wife, if reading this, is shaking her head thinking "Oh YOU'RE tired?!?!" But she's 36 weeks pregnant, so she can think like that. So can Lynne, cuz she's on a trip with just her 7 month-old son. So can James, cuz he's working like 180 hours a week (do the math). Ok, I'm tired - other people are too, I'm not saying I'm....tireder than you, I'm just tired. So what's up this week? We're hoping that Katelyn comes out soon. Like Melissa's blog (ordinaryexultations.blogspot.com) says, she's full term now, so any day is great! Why is it that Houston weather is so weird? It was 50 degrees when I walked outside this morning, and the high today is 82!! How do you dress for that? Ok yeah I know, LAYERS, but I don't like having to transport them back home. It's one thing if you have a car, but on a bike, a whole layer of clothing takes up a lot of storage space!

We watched the Oscars last night, I don't know why I watch them every year. You watch the Oscars to see what the ladies wear, and who wins what prize, right? Almost every woman there is wearing a weird dress. The ones that aren't, a.k.a. jennifer garner, miley cirus, look great, but they're million-dollar celebrities, so of course they look good. Sheesh. I hate watching award shows like that, because my picks never win! OK, almost never win. POTC won a couple times, and Sweeney Todd won one last night, but they usually never win, because they aren't the politically correct choice. The shows are rigged. Gotta be. Some world domination thing. Oh well, what are ya gonna do? So I'm gonna go, have to work now. Later,

$

Larry the Cable Guy...soooooo bad

Friday Again

Funny, no matter what I do, we always end up having a Friday every week. It always seems to follow Thursday and precede Saturday. It's usually a day of wrapping things up, usually a little bit of overwhelming stress from the rest of the week, and sometimes a glimmer of hope. Hope that the weekend will justify the week we just went through. It's supposed to rain this weekend, but I think it will be a good one just the same. We are expecting rain, but it's February in Houston, TX, so what else is new? The temperature is still decent - 60's and 70's so we're not freezing or burning up.

If you have a minute today, check out this blog. It's one Melissa frequents, and today's post is amazing. WARNING: if you are prone to crying at sad stories, grab a couple tissues before reading. It's a really good way to put things in perspective. In fact, go read it now, and then finish reading this post. Do it! I'm not kidding, go read it now.

This story brings to mind something I've been thinking about for a couple years really, and it's the topic of Joy. That word always makes me think of this verse: "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. but let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." (James 1:2-4) That is so difficult to do! I have so many thoughts on this that I don't even know where to start, so I'll try to organize this as well as possible. Let me give you a definition of joy: the emotion of great happiness. Let me take it a step further. True joy is something that comes from having the Spirit of God inside you. Remember the Fruits of the Spirit? Love, JOY, Peace... It must be an important one, too, cuz it's the second one listed. Joy is different from happiness, I think, because happiness tends to depend on our circumstances. You wouldn't necessarily be happy if you got stuck in jail, but the apostle Paul always managed to be joyful when he was stuck in prison. Check out this verse from 1 Peter: "Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy." (1 Peter 4:12-13) Amazing! Be happy in times of trials! To take it another step forward, if we are called to be joyful in times of trial, how much more should we be filled with that same joy when things are good? Pray that God would fill you with His joy, and watch what happens. "And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive." (Matthew 21:22)

In other news, we are only 35.5 days away from Melissa's due date!! 5 weeks left! Crazy. Technically, I've been told that once we reach the 4 week mark, it could happen at any time. Apparently 36 weeks is a full term. For any of y'all hoping she'll come early (ahem, MOM, BETHANY), you may get your wish. We still have a couple things to do, but I'm confident we'll be able to finish them. By the way, I am still trying to sell our Explorer, so if you know anyone that wants/needs a car, tell 'em to give me a call or shoot me an email. I've got bunches of pictures, and we're selling it cheap, we just need it GONE. (sigh) It's been a long week, but like I said, I think this weekend will be a good one. There's a gun show in town that I might go to - those never seem to get old. Melissa and Lynne are going to see some documentary in Louisiana this weekend, so I hope they have fun. That's all for now. Later.

$

)(*&@#$(&^*#&^

Stupid.

Stupid, stupid.

I had jury duty today. Jury duty is stupid. I had to get up at 5:30 this morning just so I could get downtown by 7:15. I then proceeded to sit in a chair at 1019 congress until 11 am. I met no new people, because who knows what kind of serial killer could be sitting next to you. On the bright side, I was able to read four chapters of a pretty good Star Wars book. You know, when they need people, thats when they should randomly select people and bring them in. Why do they have to call 500 people in if they're only going to use 200 of them? Plus, they didn't even randomly select us, they just starting picking entire groups of numbers, and they went IN ORDER!! Where's the randomness? Why couldn't they have just picked those numbers right off the bat, and called those people in? You know what else I figured out? They have multiple shifts of jurors coming in. I was in the 8am group, and then they had a 12pm group, and then they probably had a 4pm group. That's like 1500 people out of which only 600 are used. WHAT THE HECK???? Plus, you know what, not even all of those 600 were used. They would call like 24 people to go over to one court, then they weed through them and use only 6!! Soooooo stupid. I don't like that. Aaaaand, they only pay you 6 freaking bucks for your service. I made $1.25/hr sitting there reading my book. They should at least pay you minimum wage. Government. Ha. Timewasters is more like it. Stupid stupid stupid.

What a day - this week is taking forEVER. When will the insanity end??? Some weeks (thankfully not very many) are just like this - everything bad seems to come together and hit me all at once. Yes, I am rich and far more fortunate than many people all over the world, so I have tons of stuff to be grateful for.

To be honest, I had one other external reason for posting today. Lynne threatened to hurt Melissa and me if we didn't post soon, so here I be posting. Have a great day. Later,

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Monday

Yeah, so my last post sounded way depressing and ticked off. Don't know why cuz I felt fine. Probably just because I was tired and ready for bed. I can't tell you how many typos I had to fix before i could post that.

So yesterday was fun, we went to Brandon Hamburg and Liz Knoll (now Hamburg)'s wedding. It was very short and sweet, and then the reception was awesome. I will say this though - I don't appreciate that open bar as much now as I did then. No, I didn't get drunk, but I did fall asleep by 9:15 at home last night. Pretty nice evening though - I even danced with Melissa for a dance. I had to call it quits when they started doing more than just slow dancing. I don't know how to do anything else, and have never brought myself to learn. Oh well.

So back at work today. How was your weekend? I hope you found something fun to do. I think next weekend we're going to just be spontaneous and pick an activity. I know it kind of defeats the purpose of saying "spontaneous" if you're planning it, so we'll just not plan anything till we wake up. Fun fun fun.

I don't know that I really have that much to say today - I just wanted to counter balance the negativity I sensed in the last post. I hope you have a great day, whoever you are. Later,

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Weekend's here, having fun yet?

Alright, so I have an idea, but it's going to take a lot of people to get this done.  I want to petition for a change.  A change in the calendar.  We need to add an extra day or two to the week so that we can actually have free time on the weekend!!  I know I know, someone once told me that I'd never have free time 'till after I graduated from college, and yes, I know that God knew what He was doing when He made the earth and rested on the 7th day, but I think He'd understand.  Every time a weekend gets here I naively thing "hey, nothing to do this weekend, yay!"  ........    Yeah, so we ALWAYS have something to do over the weekend.  We just do - it's our destiny.  This weekend, Melissa had baby shower 1 of 3, Ryan and I went to the range, had two meals with my dad, and then James and Lynne came over and we hung out 'till a little after midnight.  Did you happen to see the part where Melissa and I just hung out at home with nothing to do?  Oh, what you missed that part?  No, because it wasn't there.  No I'm not being bitter, and no I'm not having a pity party, I just think this is one good reason we need extra days in our weekends.  The five work days-

Fine, you know what, don't listen.  I know I was just boring you with that topic, and heaven forbid I ever write anything boring or slightly off the beaten path.  I'll just give up on the creative side of my brain and quit thinking outside the box.  Sheesh.

So, I said we went to the range today - tried out the new shotgun I bought on Tuesday.  It's so sweet.  Here's a link to the manufacturer's website.  It's the last one on the page.  It's really pretty nice even though it was really cheap.  The barrel is only 1/2 " longer than the federal limit, so that's a nice perk.

I think I was going to make this post a fairly nice size, but it's 2:03 am, and we have to be at church in 7:45 minutes, at least 1.5 hr's of which I will not be asleep for, so I'm calling it quits for tonight.  Later,

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Fun at Four

So, (ominous music playing) ever been woken up at four A.M. to someone jiggling your door handle?  Yeah, it's not as fun as it sounds.  Then again, if you think that sounds fun, there is something majorly wrong with you.  Seek help.  No seriously, go find help.  Pay good money.  Anywho, back on topic, someone did that this morning.  It was weird too, because I was having a kind of cool dream about someone breaking in and me beating the crud out of them.  I will be totally honest here, when I heard the door handle moving, my bravery disappeared like cheap beer at a bachelor party.  You may think, "don't worry, I would have been scared too," but I'm supposed to be the brave one who protects my family.  My first thought was, "don't worry, you're still dreaming."  When it happened again a few seconds later, my second thought was, "crap, I gotta go out there and check it out."  So, with gun and giant Mag Light, I cleared my apartment.  Thankfully no one was there.  I would hate to hurt someone, and hollow points are expensive and I don't feel like buying more right now.  Yes, that was me sounding tough to offset my aforementioned loss of bravery in the face of possible danger.  I got to thinking today, what would have happened if there was someone in the apartment or trying to get into the apartment?  The (hopefully) obvious answer is first call 911.  But what if they make it inside before the cops get here?  Time for Dane the Fearless to respond.  That's a sucky feeling.  Yeah, I'm positive I could easily put a 140 grain Cor-Bon DPX hollow point directly between their eyes, but I have no desire to.  Why would you ever purposely kill someone?  So all that to say, it's a tough spot to be in if someone is trying to gain entry into your home.  So that was freaky, and the end to our peaceful sleep.  Rest of the day went fine except for the rain on the way home.  Veeeeery wet.  Tomorrow I'm going to look at shotguns and big locking bolts (bolts for the door and shotgun for me).  Shotguns are nice for home defense because even if someone makes it into your home, you can just pump a round into your shotgun, and they'll leave.  A) because they don't know how big of a gauge you have, and B) they don't know what kind of mean crap you have in there.  Some people sell some pretty mean loads for 12 gauge shotguns.

What's going on with you this week?  Any movies you seen lately?  Let me know.

Sad but semi-true proof you're getting old.  It's 9:40 at night, and I'm going to bed.  I bid you good evening.  Later,

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Friday!!

Hey people, really busy today, but I HAD to post this. Can you imagine if this happened here?? My gosh the news media and ACLU and FBI and CIA and every other acronymic government entity would be swarming all over the place. We'd blame it on some Middle-Eastern country, invade some innocent country like Luxembourg or something and all hell would break loose. Sheesh. See for yourself:

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's military Thursday offered compensation to a homeowner after a small rocket veered off course and hit his country house outside Moscow.
Russian Internet chatrooms were buzzing late Wednesday after local news agencies reported that "an unidentified flying object dropped two bombs near Moscow."
A defense ministry official told Reuters two rockets had gone astray during a military exercise near Moscow Wednesday afternoon. One hit the roof of an unoccupied house 3.5 km (2.2 miles) away.
"The damage is estimated at 60,000 rubles ($2,466). It will be compensated for in two days," said Yevgeny Konashenkov, spokesman for Russian land troops. "The owner of the house treats the incident with understanding. He has no legal claims."
Luckily for the nearby compound of cottage houses, the rockets disconnected at launch from the load of explosives they normally carry to clear minefields.

Slight Overkill on the Gun Control

So, I just thought this was funny. The law states that any firearm not in use must be kept locked, unloaded, and/or separate from the ammo. If a minor has access to both unlocked gun and ammo, many legal issues can follow (it's a felony). So, since I'm only carrying one gun right now, my other one is at home locked up. I just had to post pictures because I only have one gun lock, and the gun is really tiny.

Yes that's the whole thing. We're talking deck of cards, here. In fact, I think the trigger lock weighs the same amount as the gun does.

Here's a good way to tell how small that gun is. The bullet on the right is a .40 JHP made by Cor-Bon. That's what I typically keep in my Glock. The bullet on the left is a .25 JHP made by Speer, and yes, that's what goes in that little gun. Yes, that is a guitar pick (roughly the size of a quarter) to demonstrate just how small those little bullets are. Tiiiiiny.

Read a good quote today. "If you have to call 911, it's probably already too late." That pretty much sums up the reason most people carry concealed weapons. Makes sense, say someone is trying to mug you. You can't say, "hang on for a sec while I call the cops," but you can pull out your legally concealed firearm and scare them off, or if need be, defend yourself in a very incapacitating manner.

So what's up? We have another ultrasound scheduled today. I tell ya, if the doctor's office wasn't paying for these, I'd be broke. Oh well.

Anywho, only an hour and a half left in this workday, so I'll ttyl. Maybe I'll post some ultrasound pics up here later.

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I have more pictures! Yes, they're just of my bike, but I got the Sissy Bar in, and wanted to put a couple pics up so you can see. My sister's only comment was, "It looks like a motorcycle now!" I'm not sure I want to know what she thought it looked like before... Anyway, this was soooo much easier to install. It works great, too. Haven't had anyone ride on it yet, but that is absolutely OK. I don't know if you can tell, but I washed the bike yesterday, so I think the chrome looks a lot better now. That stuff is so hard to keep clean! Plus, everytime I get rained on (like tomorrow and maybe tonight) it just gets dirty again. Stupid Houston weather. Oh well, what can ya do?

So Melissa's sister Morgan gets back from 4 months in England tomorrow. It seems like forever that she's been gone - we all missed her I think... Yeah we did.

Man, traffic today was AWFUL on the way to work. I spent almost 15 minutes in bumper-to-bumper traffic. That doesn't sound bad unless you consider that my whole drive is usually 15 minutes, and bumper-to-bumper means I'm walking the bike. That's tiring.

Anyway, I have lots to get done, so this is all for today. Later.

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Friday...yay

I have pictures for the first time in forever! This is my motorcycle with the new luggage rack my father got me for Christmas. Nice huh? Yeah, it took like an hour and a half to put on. Crazy. It looked easy - take off four screws and put on four new ones. NO NO NO. Take off five screws, two of which are a different size, and three of which are almost IMPOSSIBLE to remove without special tools. Did I mention we did it outside and it was COLD? Yeah, waaaaay fun. Ok so maybe it was a little fun. It looks nice I think and will look even better once the Sissy Bar comes in on Monday. Stop laugh- no, stop laughing! That's what it's called. It's a back rest for the second rider on a motorcycle. No, I'm not giving rides to anyone cuz I don't want to overload my bike - I take up over half the capacity by myself. It's so I can strap stuff on the bike and carry more. Back packs can only carry so much before they start hurting your shoulders.

So I read an interesting story today on Yahoo. Here's the LINK. Window washer in New York fell 47 stories (500 ft) and is expected to walk again! That's insane.

I know I'm a couple days late asking this, but does anybody have a New Year's Resolution they'd like to share with....everybody else?

Again, been forever...

Sooo, what's new? It's been like another week, and last night Melissa asked me why I haven't posted in forever, and I couldn't really come up with another idea. Problem is, I typically post when I have something to make fun of, or something I'm mad at. This is not always good posting material, so I try not to do it too much. Buncha tiny words in that last sentence, still with me? Good. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you're doing just fine - it won't get any clearer.

So I talked about Christmas right? Lots of good stuff. Hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday season. Was New Year's good for you? Lots of fireworks and merriment? Good, cuz you won't get another holiday for like five months!! HA HA HA. Yeah, that's one bad thing about our years, they didn't balance out the holidays very well, so at the end of the year you get like four or five and the beginning of the year has none. Who designed it that way? Oh well, no sense crying over it now. I had a pretty nice New Year's Eve...ning. It was COLD though! Brrrr!! Then again, if you compare my ride to work this morning with the temperature on Monday night, that was a sauna! It was 29 degrees out the door today! You know what that is with the wind chill? TEN DEGREES!!!! Yikes is right. My fingers are still cold and I've been at work with a cup of coffee since 7:30. I even wore four layers. I am officially ready for it to be hot again. 90 degrees would be great. Now that I talk about hot weather, some of these layers are getting hot. Be back in a minute...



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Ok, feeling much better now. So really, what's up with you? Seen any good movies? The last two movies I went to were pretty good. Good thing too, cuz I saw them both twice. I Am Legend and National Treasure 2. NT2 wasn't as good as IAL, but it was still good.

I think I had too much time off. I had six days with no work, and now I REALLY don't want to be back. Oh well. Know what's crazy? I took off all my layers earlier, and now I'm freezing again, and I have to go put some back on. Maybe not all of them, but at least one layer. Sheesh. I'm going now. I'll try to post again tomorrow. Later.

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