This is a test...

I am taking a bit of a break from Facebook. I find it way too distracting and I am sort of over it. I am connected with over 500 people but I truly have a personal relationship with about 50. Sure it is fun to see what old friends are up to and I will probably reactivate sometime after Christmas... The hardest part is not getting those extra lives for Candy Crush. Ah well. I also want to finish a project I have been working and will use this to get writing more. (I have a cool idea for a book, but need to hone my writing skills). So long for now...

Best Commercial

I normally skip commercials. Use them to grab a drink, take a bio-break or something other than watching the commercial. This however is one of the best I have seen in a long time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V57v_UlaZP0 at about 30 seconds there is a magical move that even the best air drummers can't pull off... Love it. VW also has one of the most unclear commercials I have seen. How does this even sell a car? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PR_UYx4vSPs not that its not infectious... but still? later

Wouldn't it be cool?

If the location on your smart phone was really specific? Like instead of "near Austin, TX" it said "third floor executive bathrooms"

Telekinesis was a skill you could develop.

You could rewind the radio?

Your kids really rinsed their dishes before putting them in the sink, or even better they just put them in the dishwasher.  Which incidentally is right below where they stacked them in the first place.  (I think this is about as real as me developing telekinesis). 

I am resolving to resolve

I find myself a year from my last post. But I think of this as a new beginning. I am working on my writing skills and hope that blogging will help. So come back often, or not. This is just an exercise in writing for me About a month ago I deactivated my Facebook account. It has been incredibly freeing. I found myself spending too much time focusing on people I am not with whist ignoring the people I am with. I would find myself during lulls in conversation or while trying to look something up on the interweb - drifting into a Facebook loop. Sure it was entertaining. It was great fun to see the accomplishments of friends and their kids, looking at vacation photos, keeping in touch with those I had lost contact with and staying connected to family who are not near us. But also a little creepy. Not to mention I felt very narcissistic every time I posted - "look what cool thing I am did" and my so called friends feed the narcissism by commenting or even worse liking them. Since I have not been on Facebook I have been more productive at work and way more relaxed. I am not caught up in drama that some feel the need to share with world, I am not baited into pointless debates over which sports teams are better (though I am pretty sure LES is the Great and Spacious Building), who the best Presidential candidate is and find impossible to make comments on posts that are deserving of a quip or like that could be mistaken as mean or convoluted into something that it was never meant to be. This leads me to my next peeve - the internet provides a platform - myself included - to spew worthless dribble. It seems more and more there are any number of folks who think they are SME (Subject Matter Experts) on any number of topics just because they have an internet connection. Read any product review on Amazon and you will see... "I gave one star because the UPS guy was wearing white shoes after labor day" That is not an actual feedback, but I have read just some that are similar. Seriously how does that help me decide if I should order the Three Wolves one Moon shirt? http://www.amazon.com/The-Mountain-Three-Short-Sleeve/dp/B002HJ377A/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top In case you are looking...

WOW,,,,

It really has been too long. There has been so much that has happened since I have done anything here. I have decided that it is time I started blogging again. It seems to be good for the soul and a good place to vent, or vette out the thoughts on my mind.

Here is a rundown of what has happened in the last year or so -

1) Natalie started High School.
2) All four kids are in four different schools.
3) Benson is a second year varsity football player
4) Xander turned 8 and was baptized by Benson
5)I left Salient Systems for a position at IBM.

So there have been some great and fun things that have occurred in out lives. I have also committed to really get better about eating better and exercising. I have to do something big by Feb.

Hello blog - it has been a while, how you doin?

I have been thinking that I needed to blog about something but lets face it - I am lazy. Facebook is a little easier as users are limited by the number of words. So you can say things quick and simple, where blogging takes effort and I am not always feeling it. But there are too many things that I want to say that I suddenly feel the need to take up eatherworld space on.

I don't fancy myself as a old-school husband. For our whole marriage I have tried to encourage Chrissta to have some "Chrissta" time, whatever she defines that as. She is extremely busy working with our kids, working with the youth from church and generally being a great person. Not to mention the best wife EVER. So she deserves some "me" time. With the age of our children, 16, 14, 12 and 7, everyone is going different directions most of the time. So I get to spend quality time with the 7 year old. One thing about this kiddo is that he is pretty dang cool and says some very funny things. So I thought I would share them - mostly because I want to put them somewhere so I wont forget them.

Before I start I think it best to tell you about him. His name is Xander Joshua. We actually call him XanderBob, Exity, Xman or just X. (Just last night I realized that we call all of our kids by their first initial or some other nick name Benson is B,B McPheaster, Bster and white boy. Madison is M.J. MadiMad, Madafrad, or just frad. Natalie gets the short end of many things, as it is with the nicknames, poor middle kid, so She gets Na-Ta-Leee and Nat, but really Natalie is hard to shorten so mostly from me its sug, like in sugar.) Wow that was like a sub blog!

Anyway, back to Xander. He is the last of the Josh and Chrissta Hinze kids, will be in 2nd grade @ Great Oaks Elementary where he spend many a day with his mom, and called the office staff "My Yadies". He loves McDonald's, Whataburger, going to movies, white chocolate chips, fried egg sandwiches, Wicked, Lady GaGa, the music from Glee, Phineas and Ferb, Sponge Bob, Tim Burton Movies, Johnny Depp, Netflix streaming, any art project all in addition to all the other things 7 year olds like, except chocolate. He has blond hair is two and a third couch cushions long, weighs about 4 pounds, and is quite the ladies man. He is engaged to Emmy, a girl from his kindergarten class, he proudly wears a shirt that says "Chick Magnet", and loves to find a random pack of cute girls at football games and introduce himself as Bensons Brother.

So with all the time he and I have been spending together we have had some pretty funny things coming out of his mouth. Like the other day he was asking me when mom was going to be home, I said a little later, to which he replied - "Well at least she comes to my Christmas Party."

Last week in a an attempt to be voted the best dad in the world, I took him to the mall to spend his allowance. While there I thought it would be fun to have an ice cream cone from Dairy Queen. So I asked him if he would like to get one. He patted me on the belly and said "What we waitin for big boy."

Tonight we were driving and listening to the radio and asked if I had the Glee CD in the car, I did not so I suggested that we sing, as we were singing Bad Romance he said "You need to work on your tone."

Speaking of singing in the car, he loves to do that, especially to Glee. He and the Hinze ladies all have their parts and he is very insistent on who does what and that they sing. This was a little worry some to me as I have some strong musical opinions, until he burst out with Beth by KISS. What a guy.

He also is very honest and told his grandma that Mrs. Ruth, one of his Yadies, is a better grandma than she is. He also said to me, after complementing him on is politeness to a lady in the store, "I am a chick Magnet - I even have the shirt."

There are many more but this is seems a little self indulgent but what the heck its my blog...

Back Again

I had a rough couple of weeks. I got me some bronchitis which put the breaks on the workout. But I made it back on Wed morning and then just got back from a little racket ball match. Man I have I lost a step or 4 since I played and I think my elbow needs some work. Anyway it felt good and am looking forward to keeping the trend up.

Speaking of working out, I am going to brag a bit. Benson is a beast. They are working on off season training. Which started the Monday after the last game of the season. For those of you that have not lived in Texas - all the hype is real, football is king. So back to the Bast. Lifting weights is obviously a huge part of this and they track the players progress. His latest results are impressive, to me anyway.

Here are his three rep max:
Bench - 250
Incline Bench - 235
Dead Lift - 475
Squat - 435

I think he is stronger than I, for sure. He is a great example to me. Now if we can just get him to work as hard in the class room. I also think that the country music is sucking the strength as well.

I am doing it...

It has been a pretty good week so far. This week and last I have been going to the gym. Big thanks to UK for the motivation. I have not really started dieting per se but interesting enough, I have been wantinig to eat better. I went to lunch with a client to a place with a good burger. I love a good burger. Do you know what I had? Fish. I had fish.

I am working on losing weight, AGAIN. It is not a New Years Resolution, it is a life style change, AGAIN. I know I can do it. Chrissta and a few friends have joind a few other folks in a quest to loose 10% of our weight by April 2. We all put a little $$ into the mix and all we have to do to get it back is loose the 10%. Seems pretty easy, but I am thinking this time that slow and steady will get me there.

Here is my plan:
Week 1 & 2 get on a steady work out plan.
Week 3 - off sugar - continue to work out
week 4 - hard core diet.
Then keep it all up.

So far I am only down a couple of pounds, but I feel good I am getting stronger and this seems to be a good thing.

Anywhoo stay tuned and we will see...

It has been a while...

Since I got hooked on Facebook - and spent a lot of time ignoring the folks I need to stay connected to and paying attention to folks I have not had a meaningful conversation with in years or ever, I have not been very good about blogging.   The interesting thing is that I think I need this.  It helps me organize my thoughts and get them out without interupution.  Well that's not exactly true as I do have 4 kids, but at least I can look back and find my train of thought. Needless to say I have lots to think about.

So stay tuned there will be more.

Fishing in Montana

I got back from an amazing 4 day fishing tip to in Montana late Sunday night with my good friend Kyle. I posted the pics on Facebook and had a couple of questions about there not being any fish in the pictures. Before I get too far into my fish story let me say that the White River in Arkansas will forever be the place to catch a billion trout, but Montana has to be the one of the most picturesque places to be and to relax. Here is my travel log:

7/29 Travel Day -

I got up and started the day the best way I know how - a breakfast date with Chrissta. I travel quite a bit with work, so I would say that I am a pretty good packer and I like to pack at the last moment. I did the same as I always do for this trip as well. Only MAN, rounding up all my gear took a little longer than I thought it would and I had a couple of minor issues. First off I got my wading boots out and noticed that the felt on the bottom of one boot was coming off. That is a good way to ruin a trip, but no worries, a little Shoe Goo and I was in business. I put my newly repaired boots in my fully packed L.L. Bean fishing bag and noticed that I had over packed. I usually make fun of Chrissta doing that, but I is hard to pack for non - 103 degree weather. Well I noticed that I forgot to put my fly rod in the bag - no problem I will just carry it on. Plus I will look cool.

11:30 Kyle shows up and we load my crap in the car. Normally this would not deserve a mention in the blog, but he opens the back of his Explorer and he brought his same bag. I did not have much time to do anything about it so off we went. Did I mention that our bags are monogrammed? OH YEAH!

We flew to SLC then on into Bozeman. The flight to SLC was non-eventful but I did have the most leg room ever on a plane. Landing in Salt Lake was cool. I love to look at the big U on the hill. Living and going to school there was so fun. That is where Chrissta and I grew into a family. So it was a nice touch. The air port was was nutso and the plane to Bozeman was at the furthest reaches in the place, I think the gate was actually in Draper. (look at a map of the Salt Lake valley and that will be funny) So we are kickin it looking for a place to chill before we board, so we find a table in a lounge area.

It is time to go, we gather up our stuff and make it over to our gate about 15 min before we thought we were going to board. I find a nice place, out of the way by the pay phone to wait, and what do you know, someone needed to use the phone. I can't tell you when the last time a used a pay phone. But I looked down and there was no Rod Tube. I had left it on the table... BUMMER, I booked it over and thankfully it was still sitting on the table. That would have been a bummer trip.

While we were waiting, this not very quiet man was yelling throughout the gate area saying, "that is Jeff Bridges!" so of course I looked and sure enough there he was. Looking really normal. In fact if Mr. Loud man (in the yellow shirt) had not been shouting and calling everyone in his address book I would not have noticed that was him just a very normal un-assuming looking guy. I felt kind of bad cause this guy was telling the world that Jeff Bridges was there and all he was trying to do was catch a flight, but he was very calm and seemed flattered but not pretentious.

Jeff Bridges was not the only famous person at our gate. The other was non other than Coach Ron McBride. Coach McBride was the head coach of the Runnin Utes while I was there. Many consider Coach McBride the one who brought Utah football to where it is today. Urban Meyer won with all of McBrides guys and he is the one who hired Coach Wittingham, the current head coach, as his Defensive Coordinator. I have to admit I was more giddy about seeing him than Jeff Bridges...

We landed in Bozeman, it was about 60 degrees and I have to admit, I was cold... We went and checked in to the hotel with our matching monogrammed bags in a little red sports car. I said Chrissta's name about 500 times in about 15 min.... We ate dinner and went to Walmart to get water and snacks for our drive to Yellowstone the next day.

7/30 - Yellowstone

We got up and drove to Yellowstone the next day. The drive was awesome. All sorts of hills and trees and green. It was cool and very green, a nice change from the hot brown Texas we have been dealing with. Into Yellowstone we stopped, not by choice, to see a Moose, a bear, countless dear and antelope, a buffalo and 3000 ground squirrels... We saw the petrified tree and ate lunch on the porch of the Roosevelt Lodge. Oh, and there were no trout in the Gibbon river and the Yellowstone was too fast, deep and crowded...

7/31 - Ennis/Jeffers

Great spot. We fished all day on the Madison. I saw a couple of otters and a Beaver. I did see a nice brown because Kyle was nice enough to fight it over near me so I could see it. I did not catch anything but some mosquito bites and a sunburn, but boy was I relaxed and felt at one with nature. At about 4 pm we started back and decided to fish our way back to Bozeman up the Madison. We stopped at one place that looked promising, but ended up being a 5 mile drive up washbard road. I think I lost all my teeth - and there were no fish.

8/1 - The Gallatin to West Yellowstone up over to Jefffers and back to Bozeman.

That about covers it, lots of driving stopping, fishing and driving. The Gallatin was fast and the rocks were slick. West Yellowstone was interesting and I finally caught one on the Madison in Jeffers. (I had a nice little brown, about 8 inches but he was a good fighter and had nice color. I then hooked a dinker on a dry but it was what I like to call an LDR (Long Distance Release). Kyle then had the great idea to walk down stream through the brush, and mosquitoes - large as birds and love the taste of Deet... All for no fish, bit we saw a deer cross the rivers, that was cool. And on the way back to Bozeman, we actually had to figure out what day it was. We did something right.

8/2 Travel Day

OK we slipped into the river at Spain Bridge on the Gallatin, and there was one more fish, and it was mine. I avoided being skunked on the Gallatin, then it was back to reality on an oversold flight, that was late and way too hot. But it was home to my wife and family.

All in all I had a great relaxing time and Kyle is a great friend but I wished I could have shared the sights with my wife.

Peace out!

Why DVRs are Bad.

The other day I was watching a show and had to get up to do "something". I confess I actually had to go, well I had needed to go for a while. Little boys/ big boys; don't fool yourself, we all can't be bothered to get up and go when we need to. Big boys just don't hold themselves and dance, so its not as obvious. (Well we do dance but its more subdued, and we actually can't think either.)

Back in the day I would have to wait for a commercial, then I would have a true dilemma. There were really three choices, sing my favorite jingle, you know "What walks down stairs, alone or in pairs..." or maybe "Two all beef patties, special sauce, cheese..." or maybe I couldn't tear my eyes away from the crying Indian or I was gripped by the son who called his parents just to say "I love you". The other possibility was to grab a snack or a drink or the obvious, pee. All this had to be done, as Chuck Woolery would later remind us, in 2 minutes and 2 seconds, before Mork and Mindy or The A Team would return.

The benefit to all this was that we all could not live without a Rock'em Sock'em Robots game, we had to have a Happy Meal and knew that 4 out of 5 dentists preferred Trident for their patients who chewed gum . We don't litter, we prevented forest fires and now know what our brains on drugs look like. We also had stronger bladders and learned to wait, and we weren't as fat because we had to run to the bathroom.

We now live in an age where we can pause the T.V. The days of holding it to the last moment are over (this is not a bad thing, moms are not yelling at you to "Aim", or to "stop holding yourself") and the stress of not making it is gone, which in my opinion actually helps with the aim issue. However, without the need to hold it, kids these days have weaker bladders any one taking a road trip with kids can tell you that, and I am sure Freud would have something to say about this causing the need for immediate satisfaction.

We all know where the economy is - could this be because no one is watching commercials? Check the sales numbers of Stretch Armstrong or the Evil Knievel Super Stunt Set - I bet they are down.

Finally we are fat. Instead of grabbing an apple or a carrot, in order to get back in time we can now pause the TV and make a grilled cheese or a whole plate of grilled fajita beef nachos and run to the 7/11 for a big gulp. Or even worse -better- we can go all the way to Rudy's for some great Texas BBQ.

I am not saying that the cause of some of our social issues is the DVR, but ask yourself next time your kids pause the zany antics of Sam and Carly on iCarly or the joy of Sponge Bob and Patrick bugging Squidward to do wees, think about the implications.

Out of The Box

The other day I was thinking about a friends website, http://www.anengineeringmind.com, (where he posts videos about engineering, it is very funny - if you are into that sort of thing.) Anyway, I mentioned to him earlier that day that I loved his site and that he was doing a great blah blah blah - he then said if you have any ideas I can cover let me know... So I was just getting ready to dose off and there it came, a thought for his website. Marketing Speak. I am thinking to myself he has to cover that that would be so great. (As a reference I did check and sure enough he had just posted one about marketing words - it is brilliant.)

When I say marketing speak, I mean words like 'Traction', 'Marketechture', 'Synergy', 'Best in Breed', 'Scope', 'Leading....' and my favorite 'Out of The Box'. I think that these terms are generally over-used. They actually make me quit listening because when hear them they are audio or visual clues that the presenter or speaker really has no clue what they are saying and are not going to give me anything of substance. I have to admit I have even used some of them when, A) When I was talking to some folks that were not following my technical jargon, and B) when I did not know what I was talking about. Sorry if you use them, but GOSH DANG they bug me... Keep in mind I have worked at some big marketing companies like IBM and Dell, which may be why I have an aversion to such speak.

But that is not the reason for this post, and I have to admit it was inspired by 'Out of The Box'. As I was thinking about all these words that one phrase rang true at that moment for me. Have you ever had one of those moments? Like all of a sudden a light comes on and the planets line up and something clicks in your heart. I had one of those moments about that phrase. Generally it is accepted that Out of The Box means thinking or doing something unconventional or creative.

I am not sure what the technical or phsycological term is but I will call it flow of consciousness, where my mind took off and all these thoughts came to me about that phrase. Basically I looked at my computer and realized it was a box, then I started thinking about the other boxes in my life and how we all should live 'Out of The Box'.

As stated above, the first thing that came to mind was my computer then then next logical was the T.V. I am especially guilty of this. I tend to come home sit in front of the T.V. with a laptop on my lap finishing up some work or surfing the net for that next cool thing or even watching my friend's videos. None of these things are inherently bad, just we (I) have been boxed by these things.

Another box is our cell phones. I can't leave the house without it, I look at it all the time. Chrissta is on hers all the time as well. What did we do before cell phones? Oh yeah we talked face to face and interacted at dinner. Kids are texting 100 people at a time and not interacting with others. I know a kid, very well, who burns over 14,000 messages a month think he is in a box?

Have you ever looked at your car? All they are are boxes with wheels. I have two cars, and two car payments. We need cars to get to work and stuff and we did just 'help the economy' and bought a Ford - but this is not your dad's Ford -its a Flex. Have you seen them? They are nice. It looks great, fantastic lines, dark windows alloy wheels, Satellite radio, Microsoft Sync, blue tooth - uh see what I mean? Its a fancy box.

What about work? The physical building is a box, how late do you stay in that box? What time do you leave there? How much time to do spend thinking about it when you are not there? How much does a bad day at the box effect your mood or interactions with your wife, kids, friends and or extended family?

I look in my wallet and there are a bunch of flat boxes called credit cards in there. Their physical shape is flat but for many the hidden part is not flat - they are huge. I am surprised that some still fit in my pocket. These too could be why some feel boxed at work.

Then I looked at the house I live in it is a box with a pitched roof. I talked to a friend today and they are looking for a new box. I used to think that living in a box was bad, but I just realized I do too. Who am I to judge others for living in boxes whatever or wherever they may be. But then there are those that have bought too big of a box and can't pay for it anymore.

I have another box that is an issue for me. The fridge actually the freezer that not so ironically has another box full of a creamy frozen treat. For others it may be the box of cigarettes other harmful substances that are sold in a box that may be an issue.

I told a co-worker about my ideas and he added church, which I thought was interesting and I liked the idea but I could not figure out why. Then this evening I picked the older kids up from youth group at the church and when I saw the church building I realised it is another box only it has a steeple. I was then hit between the eyes with a huge question? Do I worship or live my religion in that box only? or do I live outside the box? Thanks Page!

I am sure there are more. But I realized that I need to do better at living Out of the Box and maybe other do too. I am sure I will have more thoughts about this so stay tuned, and please share your thoughts about the boxes we all live in. Later!

Capital One

They called and said we are sorry.... its not like they were going to do anything for me but I did get the satisfaction of getting to say you guys suck and I am going to tell you all the reasons why.

Financial score:
The Man -100 Josh - 0

Moral score:
The Man - Josh 1

Wow its been a while and I have much to discuss.

I could give you, my fans, a bunch of hooey about all the reasons why I have not posted in a quarter, but the truth is I am lazy. Thats , ironically, is the reason I started this thing in the first place.


Things have been going pretty well. I have been working out less regularly than I should but more than I was. I am working with my buddy Kyle who has totally rocked it and can call me on stuff others cant. Good to have. But I need to do more and add diet to this routine. So much for my physical health. My mental/emotional health has not been very good. I feel stuck - not progressing professionally or intellectually. This is not a good thing for me. I can not be pushed for a bit but if I am not learning and growing then I get board and jaded. I have recently realized that it is up to me to make sure I am growing and learning. To that end I have started to teach myself some programing languages. I am looking into C## and Java. I need to choose 1 to focus on so any input would be great. (I think I am leaning towards C## but can be persuaded other wise.)

Something else I have been thinking about is going back to school. Not sure what for exactly or if it would be worth the $$ just something I am thinking about it. I actually was thinking I should go back and continue a medical career, but then I woke up....

I had something reiterated to me this weekend and I actually feel funny admitting this due to the title of my blog. The point that I was reminded of is that I choose. I choose my mood. I choose to be angry. I choose to be jaded. It is ultimately up to me. From today on I choose...

Here is something I choose. To be really really really mad at Capital One Auto Finance. The Wife and I bought a new car a bout a month ago. We told the dealer we wanted our payment due after the 15th of the month. They said no problem - we signed the papers, and drove our new Ford Flex home.

A couple of days later we were looking over the contract and noticed that the due date was on the 2nd of the month. That was going to be an issue. So I called the dealer. They said that we would need to call the bank as they had already submitted the paper work. No problem right? I called the bank they said I needed to wait until I got my account, number. So I did. I called them back to move the payment. It was going to cost $35.00 - bummer but OK. Did the whole Check thing over the phone. This was the 24th of Feb. Thought we were done, but the check did not clear the bank. Chrissta called them on the 2nd of March, the due date. It did not go through for some reason or other. So we did it again, this time the money came right out, and they told her the new payment was due on the 17th - sweet, job done.

Tonight I get a call from Capital One Auto Finance telling me my payment is late. HUH????? a fight ensues where the bozo on the other end is telling me that I am late and there is nothing they can do, I tried to escalate and got a senor bozo that would not budge either and would not let me talk to anyone else. I tried logic - he had none. My argument points were:

1. Why did the Customer Service Rep not tell Chrissta to make a payment on the 2nd when she moved the payment due date? - His reply was that it was not late yet, and they could not ask for a payment. HUH????????
2. Why was I charged $35.00 to move the payment? His reply was that the new due date was going to take effect in April.
3. Why could not the CSR speak English? - No Comment.
4. Why would a representative of their company tell me one thing and while they are telling me another? No answer again.

He also told me that I signed a contract to make the payment and that they offered me as a courtesy I could move my payment due date. I let him know that I was there when I signed it, and that as soon as the error was noticed, I tried to correct it. He let me know that it was a courtesy that they offered to let me make the change. I responded that it was not a courtesy or it would have been free and that this was a service that I paid for. - No comment by him.

He even reviewed the case and read where the guy told Chrissta that we could move the payment - but he still said it was late and there was nothing he could do and there was no-one else I could speak with.

After about 30 min of arguing with the brick wall I relented and made the payment. (Good thing for tax returns.) This is the best part - I hung up and Madison and Xander walk in with today's mail, I'll be damned if there was not letter from Capital One Auto Finance with the our next payment due date: March 17th 2009! signed by the Director of Customer Service, Michael Feeney. So I looked up the corporate office number found a company directory and called him. Unfortunately or fortunately he was not in, but I left him a voice mail. Not sure what good it will do but if you want the number I will give it to you.

Really this was not the guys fault - he was doing his job, but MAN follow the logic and help someone out. Sheesh. Oh and he did waive the $14.95 check by phone fee so there is one positive.

I was just a kid...

Tonight is foggy. This does not not happen that often here where we are in Texas. There was a winter 17 years ago in Oregon that was super foggy. It seemed like every night along the Willamette River, on the road between Salem and Dallas (Oregon) it looked like tonight, foggy - have to drive by the lines foggy, foggy. This was a special time for me and perhaps the most important time for our family.

I had been dating this girl I had met a few weeks earlier and things were very serious. I will admit that things were moving much faster than I wanted or expected and now looking back it seems like I was operating outside my own body, and that I was a spectator in my own life. But there was something to this. Something special, something I did not feel I should stop, something I am not sure I could have stopped...

17 years later, 4 kids, half a country away, on a foggy night, I am still in it and loving every moment.

Any way there is something about the fog that makes me a little nostalgic. Good times.

WOW Time Flies....

I have been traveling a bit lately, and have had some time to read. I read this book called Into Thin Air, its about an expedition to Everest that ended poorly. It got me to thinking about goals. Some folks like to list things they want to do -loose 100 pounds, read the complete works of Leo Tolstoy, or learn to speak Chinese. Some folks may also have some things they would like to do - grow a Mohawk, get a tattoo - you get it. So as I was reading this book I thought I never want to climb Everest and it got me thinking about some sort of reverse goals, and I was wondering why people don't keep a list of things they don't want to do. That way if they get a wild hair and can't remember that they did not want to climb Mt. Everest, they wont spend 60k to do so. So here are a few of the things I don't want to do.

• Climb Everest
• Parachute
• Bungee Jump
• Play Professional Soccer
• Animate a Pixar film
• Race in the Iditerod
• Eat Dorian Fruit
• Hike Across Cambodia
• Become a Gynaecologist/Proctologist/Podiatrist/Dentist
• Sleep in a snow cave
• Swim across the English Channel

There are more I am sure but I am having hard time deciding.... What are some of yours?

Let The Music Move You

First I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving, and regardless of your socioeconomic (I got to use it again) status you were able to take some time with family and or friends and celebrate all that you are thankful for.

So the other week, I went to a movie with a couple of friends, Jason, Sam and Stan. On the drive over we were discussing our top ten bands, songs etc. and it ties into a post I had been wanting to do for a while but could not seem to get it. I had been thinking about creating a sound track for my life Volume I, but as I started it was getting too long and there were just too many great songs to narrow down, so this seems to fit in quite nicely.

Top Ten American Bands/Artists:

1 - The Ramones
2- Blondie
3- REM
4- Nirvana
5 - Social Distortion
6 - Prince
7 - Camper Van Beethoven/Cracker
8 - No Doubt/ Gwen Stephani
9 - Sublime
10 - B-52's

Top 10 Eur Asian Bands/ Artists:

1 - Billy Idol
2 -The Clash
3 - U2
4 - The Sex Pistols
5 - Joy Division/ New Order
6 - INXS
7 - Pink Floyd
8 - The Cure
9 - Depeche Mode/Erasure
10 - The Cult

Top 10 Songs of all time: (Can not be an artist from the above lists, that would be too easy and I am trying to diversify)

1 - What is Love - Howard Jones
2 - Creep - RadioHead
3 - Turbo Lover - Judas Priest
4 - Family Tradition - Hank Williams Jr.
5 - Fire Maple Song - Ever Clear
6 - Jeremy - Pearl Jam
7 - Baba O'Reilly - The Who
8 - Imagine - John Lennon
9 - Enter Sandman - Metallica
10 - Led Zeppelin - Stairway To Heaven

Which Leads to my top 10 albums (no best of, but live albums are OK)

1 - Electric - The Cult
2 - Never Mind - Nirvana
3 - Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes
4 - Live on St Patricks Day - Drop Kick Murphy's
5 - Joshua Tree - U2
6 - 1999 - Prince
7 - 101 - Depeche Mode
8 - Mixed Up - The Cure
9 - License to Ill - Beastie Boys
10 - Legend - Bob Marley (I know I broke my rule, but how do you leave that one off)

I am sure there are many that I missed and this was fun to do and to think about. What are some of yours?

It has been a while

So this has been an interesting year. I am not sure if its been cause of my age, socioeconomic status, (I really don't think it has anything to do with that I just wanted to see if I could spell it), or all the kids being out of the house or what. But life is weird isn't it. I seem to be battling against my self. The inner ying and yang thing is driving me crazy. It seems like when ever anything positive happens I have to go ruin it for myself. Example, I worked out then I ate meatloaf and then Captain Crunch (Huge Bowl or two). This sort of behavior is counter productive Why can't I let good things be? Ah well I guess I will just need to keep on trying.

So that was some election eh? I was impressed by both candidates speeches I thought that John McCain was very gracious and very statesmanlike. I was also very impressed by Obama's speech. It was very positive and I thought, inspiring. I was at Byron and Tara's when they announced Obama had won. Byron was away on business but he called Tara and said now I can tell my boys they can be anything they want. This really put it in perspective for me as have not been personally affected by race. I am optimistic about the future of our nation. I hope that he can do what he says. Should be an interesting couple of terms.

Anyone else

Like to read the last page of a book before you get to the end, to decide if you want to keep reading?

Like to eat ice cream while watching the Biggest Loser?

Brush your teeth with warm water?

Only wear certian clothes on a particualr day of the week? (My Friday outfit is an MFB shirt, and my green Old Navy cargo shorts.)

Obesess about clearing out your inbox?

Don't like to go to any meetings - and think they are all a waste of time?

Check for comments on your blog too much?

Are planning your midlife crisis?

Figure out what time you are going to have a Diet Coke during the day, first thing when you wake up? (Sorry Laura - you are so good to give it up - I think I need an intervention)

Like that song Paper Planes? (did you know that the hook or sample is from the Clash's Straight to Hell?)

Wish you had a super power and or the force? (If you had the force you could get the remote without getting off the couch! That would come in handy while eating ice cream and watching the Biggest Loser. If I had the force, I would'nt need telekinesis so I would choose flight for my super power.)

Wish you could have a mowhawk?

Think Google Chrome cool?

relate to "SELECT * FROM people WHERE clue > 0
0 rows returned"?

Love anything on Discovery or TLC and Nova?

Want to open a Skate/Fish Taco shop ( I am thinking about the menu:
The 2 Taco Combo with chips and queso and a soda - $6.99
Ultimate Combo - a longboard, from longboard larry - is there a finer board? NO, fully set up and two tacos chips queso and a drink - $306.99
Super Ultimate Combo all of the above and Tee-shirt (An Eric Devericks design - duh) for $326.99.
Of course you can get all these ala carte - silly...

So there are some things you may not have known about me... now I will be looking for comments so feed my obsession! Let me know if you think any of these things or if you have some for me to think about?

Watching the Olymics is...

so fun... I do wish I had the body of some of those guys... (heck even some of the women have manlier bodies than I) That Jamaican kid, Bolt, is INCREDIBLE, anyone who appreciates sprinting can tell you he is a freak! I feel bad for Lo Lo Jones, she was the clear favorite yet she tripped on the 9th hurdle and I think she ended up 4th... She is 26 and this was her shot. She was very positive and it was good to hear. In contrast the 400m favorite lost as well... She ran a horrible race and had all sorts of excuses, it was interesting to listen to the two.

I was watching diving last night and decided something... If I was in last place and had no chance of getting a medal, I would get to the end of the board and start my dive. Midway through I would curl up into a ball and yell "CANNON BALLLLLLL". Then I had a better thought. I would also take a spare speedo in my hand and let go of it as I hit the water. Those guys are just way too stuffy.

Hope all is well with ya'll.