request.

This is primarily directed to Vicki Clifton but anyone can join in. I am wanting to play one song on the piano. The song is Traumerei by Schumann (that I've linked before) and here is the sheet music. It doesn't look real tough but I'm not a sheet music guy and I guarantee that it's much more difficult than it looks or sounds. To repeat: I don't want to learn to play the piano, but I just want to play this one song. Is it possible?

Here's the song:

nc

house.

We finally got to Diamond and moved almost all of the stuff out. We have too much stuff. There is still a swing set that needs to be taken apart and an exercise bike. Everything else is gone. So here's the story. They want to be in by the 15th. That gives us 2 weekends to get the last two items. This weekend and next weekend. We are scheduled to be in Tulsa on the next weekend so yup... you guessed it... Back to Diamond this weekend. Just shoot me now and get me out of my pain!!!

Stopped by Northpark Mall to do some shopping. All my jeans are too big now, so I had to buy some new ones. Nellie got some spring clothes and Patrick got some shirts.

On the way home we got a call from our realtor. Termites. Spending a bundle to take care of those. Oh the joys of home ownership. Hopefully we are almost through with this though.

I'm trying to talk Miranda into buying a sailboat for real now because it appears that we will be living in it if this rain doesn't stop. I never figured, I'd be able to sail from Independence to Vinita but with a few more days rain, I think I will be able to.

I have been cajoling Miranda to drop the cat idea but no luck. Looks like we will be calling Jon Wade to get a kitten or something to get mice. Dad thinks we need to call it Archibald if it's a male.

On a sad note... Vern Gosdin died. His steel player, Jim Vest, was one of my favorites. The sound man really hosed up the steel on this clip but this is one of my favorites of his.

nc

woohoo!

Reservations for 2 at The Brasserie Restaurant in Tulsa on 5/8/09 at 7:00 PM. Shelley Doyle is going to babysit the children for us. Now I just have to decide on what to eat. So much food, so little time. Tonight is hamburger night.

Found a place online where you can have 1-on-1 language tutoring. That would be interesting and would help in pronunciation. Cherokee isn't available but French is.

Man. United won today 1 - nil versus Arsenal. For everyone out there that is on pins and needles just worrying what the final score was. Next leg is next week. You think I blab on and on about soccer, just wait until College Football. Growing up in Oklahoma, the sport was American Football and pretty much nothing else (some Wrestling but not the dumb stuff on TV). You will tire of hearing about OU and how great they are and how they will win it all (or at least make it to the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl before blowing it big time like the last few years).

I'm really not a huge sports fan though. Just enough to keep up with the various sports.

nc

bagels

When I was in college, Joplin had a Great American Bagel and I loved their Chocolate Chip Bagels. Panera Bread in Joplin finally started making them also. Unfortunately that's too far away now. So I found my own recipes. Now sure which one to try. Here or here. Of course if we had a Bread Machine then I could make these.

nc

what a dreary week

I don't think it's ever going to stop raining. I guess "April showers bring May flowers".

Getting in the mood to raise truffle trees again. Unfortunately it gets too cold in our area. Must convince Miranda to move further South.

Tomorrow we are off to Diamond and hopefully for the last time for a long time. Looking forward to that but not looking forward to moving the rest of our stuff in the rain. Of course, we will always be attached to Diamond as our first son Teemu is buried there. Miranda and I also have burial plots there. Last time we were out there, I tried out my plot. Might as well get used to it as I will be spending some time there in the future.

Next Friday, Miranda and I are going to try to have a date night and go out to eat. She is going to try to find a baby sitter today. Looking forward to that. We haven't done this for quite some time now. No oysters on the half shell this time.

nc

Nail biter.

It was a real nail biter (but of course if you know me, I don't need much prodding to bite my fingernails). The game was 0-0. So it comes down to the second leg on 6/5.

Game between Man Utd and Arsenal tomorrow.

nc

Credit...

Today we checked out our credit report. We didn't get the score but we have had a great score in the past so I'm not really concerned about that. Our debt to credit ratio is about where we need it to be. When I was reading about the debt/credit ratio, they made a few interesting points. One of the things is that it's important to have a debt/credit ratio since your credit score is based off of this. So it's not a good idea to cancel credit cards after paying them off.

Anywho... We really need to make sure that our debt load is at the right number and we will be paying off our house (due to selling it) and losing that debt. So we may need to adjust it by buying something... Not that I would suggest anything... Like a Porsche 911 or a West Wight Potter Sailboat but it may be helpful to purchase a large ticket item (like a Porsche 911 or a West Wight Potter Sailboat). I'll think it over and see if I can come up with some ideas (like a Porsche 911 or a West Wight Potter Sailboat).

nc

depressed.

I get so frustrated with myself. I have such a hard time with memorization. It is almost impossible for me. I'm trying to get a handle on these Cherokee words but they are so different and unlike English that I'm really having a hard time. I think I ask too much of myself though and want to make huge leaps but need to be content with small steps. It is depressing though.

Patrick really enjoyed the animals last night. Nellie was pretty bad from what I hear and ran the hallways most of the time. Most of Miranda's school children were there and they all really enjoyed it. Sounded like a fun time (except for the Nellie part). Molly and her brother Cory went with Miranda.

Getting the facebook thing going, but it's a bit "in your face". Everything you say is told to basically everyone whether they want it or not. At least with this blog, if you don't want to read it you just avoid it. Not sure if I keep it up or not.

Miranda was telling me that Sunday when I was taking a nap, she did the dishes and Patrick stood in for me. Normally I help her but she didn't wait until I was awake so Patrick dried the dishes. He is growing so fast.

Last night was weigh in and Miranda lost a pound so congrats to her!!! I stayed at 152 so I'm closer to being a lifetime member. I can't wait until I'm a lifetime member and can eat anything and not gain any weight! That's how it works right? So after weigh in we went to Big Cheese Pizza and blew our diets. They have great pizza. That and Fettuccine Alfredo is the only Italian food that I like.

Reminder to everyone: Barcelona vs Chelsea today at 2:30. Be there or be square. I haven't heard that phrase in years. That's soooo 80's! Like crazy dude.

nc

tonight.

Miranda is taking Patrick and Nellie to the public library tonight. They are having a program called "OutBack Adventures of Australia and New Zealand". It appears that there may even be some live animals there. That will keep them busy while I'm in my class. The library and the park are nice to have and a great reason to live here. The library is sorely lacking in pre-WWII military history though. Basically it's only WWII. I think there may be 2 or 3 books from other periods.

nc

facebook.

I'm the proud owner of 2 new facebook friends. Aaron and Lindsay Young. I have to say this though. Happy very-belated birthday Lindsay. I'm sorry I missed it. Miranda had mentioned it a few days before and I was trying to make a mental note of it. Unfortunately I'm old and forgetful. Yes, 34 is old when you compare to Aaron and Lindsay.

Lindsay is my favorite sister-in-law because she doesn't make me watch her 3 kids!!!! Just kidding Angie!! It was tough though! It definitely took both Molly and myself. If you know Angie's children than you understand.

Please note that Lindsay does not have 3 kids in case you think that I'm saying that. If she does then there have been a lot of changes since I last saw them (2-3 months ago).

nc

ugh.

Bad news. The Wiggles are coming to Tulsa in August. If you haven't heard of The Wiggles then you don't have young children or are just very lucky. So we wasted our hard earned money on four tickets. They write really catchy tunes and now I will be singing "choo choo chugga chugga big red car" all day. If that lyric didn't make any sense to you, be thankful.

nc

gold

Our finances in this country are going to be a lot different when the Chinese decide to stop buying our debt. Looks like they are buying gold as the normal hedge against inflation. Our entire economy is the proverbial "house built on sand". When the rains come it is going to get nasty.

nc

forgot to mention.

I saw Bill Filsinger over the weekend and he agreed to build me a desk! He was down installing windows in the Redwood church.

So now I just have to get Miranda to give the 'ok' financial wise and I'll be off and running.

nc

family stuff.

Patrick was playing with Nellie and he kept saying "I have to go to Missouri". He thinks that a lot of travel is now a normal thing that must be done. Unfortunately with our life lately, it is. Hopefully that will be changing.

We have found the coolest house and it's going to be tough to keep from buying it. They only want $152,000 for the house so I'm sure it will be gone in a year. We could make two house payments but it isn't very smart and we couldn't if I lose my job. Since I'm in Commercial Manufacturing then it's a big possibility. It's a war between the heart and the mind.

There is another house that looks like we want and has a detached garage with a living space above the garage which would make a great office. They are wanting $210,000 for it though. I'm guessing in a year it will still be around and cheaper.

The cheaper the house, the quicker I get Sally too so that's a positive with going cheaper. Actually since she's going to be yellow, I guess I can drop the Sally. I will have to come up with a new car name. I'm guessing the next-to-final name will be Endless Black Hole To Dump Money Into. The final name will be Piece Of Junk That Sits In The Garage Rusting Away. But it's my goal and I like reaching goals.

We would really like to move before another year is gone because I feel bad about taking a house away to be used for teachers that are more needy. However I don't feel bad enough to chance bankruptcy.

Funny story from church. Shawn Caldwell's son was sitting at the front because Shawn was leading the singing. He got one of Albert's harmonica's and started blowing away on it. You may or may not realize that harmonica's come in keys and of course, it wasn't the key we were in. It was hilarious. Luckily with his screeching, you couldn't hear my screeching as I was playing my steel guitar.

We have a great church and we really like it there. Everyone makes us feel right at home. Patrick enjoys his Sunday School. Albert teaches our Sunday School and he and Charlie Cunningham are very smart and I try to keep quiet but sometimes I make a (normally stupid) comment. At least I try!!! The "church band" consists of Miranda on piano, Clifford on guitar, Mr. Yoder (not sure of his first name) on bass and Albert on harmonica or acoustic guitar. They sound very good. Mr. Yoder and his wife speak German also as they grew up either Amish or Mennonite, so they are very cool. And Albert has 3 years of college in German too! I wish I could remember more of my German class in High School.

Well this is getting somewhat long so I'd better wrap this up.

nc

cat.

I think we have our new cats name (assuming we get one). If it's a girl, her name will be Beatrice.

nc

Cards beat the Cubs.

Cardinals beat the Cubbies, 8-2. Someone harass Tony Smith for me. Plus we are the top of the NL Central.

nc

bad day.

Today has been pretty hideous. Patrick's last soccer game was played so soccer is finally over. Left at 11:30 to drive to Diamond, MO. No time to eat lunch since I had to run by Rod and Pibs house to pick up the battery charger. I had a Snickers candy bar for lunch with Diet Mt. Dew (lunch of Champions). Load up as much stuff as we could (still didn't get the exercise bike or the chest). Got it all loaded about 4:00 and left. Dropped the lawn mowers off at my father-in-laws. No time for supper as I've got to get home. Supper consists of a Hersheys with Almonds (supper of Champions) and flavored water. We finally got to go inside after all the children were playing. I'm helping Molly watch the 5 children (our 2 and Angie's 3) while the ladies go to the Alumni dinner. This day cannot end fast enough. bleh.

nc

It's a fight!!!

We have had a running battle with mice for a weeks. Their tactics are second to none and we have had major losses (mostly my pride and Miranda's nerves). They have had 2 causalities. So my darlin' says to me this morning... We need a cat. Please note that we already have a dog that we don't need and so it appears that we will be adding a cat that we don't need. I'm guessing a llama will be next.

I actually like cats as they take a little less attention and they are miniature tigers. So we are in the market for a short-haired female cat. Now we just need a good name (nothing standard like Socks or Boots). I'm thinking George or Arthur. Sir Reginald McWhorter the Third would work also.

nc

New friends.

Two new friends on Facebook. Vicki Clifton and Sheila Wade!

This morning I was thinking about something that has always confused me. I really don't get art. Here is The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh. Here is a painting by Bob Ross. The Van Gogh is obviously preferred over the Bob Ross but I have no idea why (other than the monetary value).

Next week is the starting of the semi-finals in the UEFA champions league. Barcelona vs Chelsea and Manchester United vs Arsenal. I am really looking forward to it (and am probably the only person that reads this blog that is excited about it). Miranda hates watching soccer for a couple of reasons. She thinks it is boring and she hates Ray Hudsons voice (I love it).

Ray isn't a big fan of celebrities or tennis players apparently.

IBS

Back home again after the Junior/Senior Banquet. It was nice and really beautiful. The camera battery was dead but I got a few pictures with my crummy cell phone. I'll try to get them posted assuming they look halfway decent.

Saw Vicki Clifton at the banquet and she is going to help me out on facebook. If you are on facebook, look me up. I think this is me.

We sat at the same table as Steve Schaper and he was mentioning about the garden that Wayne Rogers put in. Apparently there's some space left if we want to put in a few plants. I raised 1 habanero plant a few years ago and about mid-June had about 4-5 peppers. They were evil hot. Miranda made a lot of salsa and put one pepper in there and we couldn't hardly eat it. Then the plant decided that it was time to really get going. I had peppers running out my ears. Luckily one of my friends at work was close friends to a Mexican guy so I gave him all my peppers. The Mexican family would just sit around and eat the peppers! At Diamond, I have planted some blueberries and blackberries but the birds got them all. This year I was going to go bird hunting but we won't be there. We may have to plant something though.

Well I'd better get this posted and get to bed. Long day tomorrow.

nc

PC Gamer.

I have got to stop getting the PC Gamer magazine. They have a new game coming out in 2009 called The Saboteur. It's a stealth WW II game. I also found a tiny 7" screen that you can use as a dual monitor. It's a Mimo Monitor and as you saw the other day, I don't have room for another monitor. I think this would fit the bill.

nc

weekend

We decided to make a flying trip last night over to Diamond to try to start moving the rest of our stuff over since the buyers were wanting to move in on the 1st. While we were there, I got a call from the realtor and she said they have decided to move in on the 15th. So I guess we didn't have to hurry. I'm not going to complain though because they still want to move in.

I had already called my dad to get a trailer on short notice (a guy in our church had offered me his but I'd told him that I would give him a weeks noticed before I needed it and I didn't think I had a week). So anyway, Dad is bringing that up Saturday and we are going to try to get the lawn-mowers, exercise bike, etc... I don't think Miranda and the children will go though.

Tonight is the Junior/Senior banquet at IBS and we will be going since Miranda is a faculty member. This will be an awkward social event since they are young adults rather than dull, boring middle-agers. I'm not sure what to talk about since I'm way out of the loop and am a proud member of the dull,boring middle-ager club. I'm guessing the economic philosophy of Milton Friedman won't be a hot topic. Or the weather. Or early 19th century polka music. Or anything other than who is dating who and various gossipy things.

I just got an email from the VP at my job where they are looking into getting a business presense on Twitter, MySpace, Facebook etc... Maybe I can get involved in that. I follow a few folks on Twitter (Stephen Fry and Robert Llewellyn) but I don't really get the idea. I signed up on Facebook but haven't done anything with that. Took me long enough to get into the blogging thing so I'm sure by the time I figure it out, it will be long gone (or at least, very uncool).

nc

new computer

I am always lagging behind on technology. Mostly because keeping up with technology is like trying to capture water coming out of a fire hose with a teacup. There just too much to keep up with.

A year or so back, I bought an EeePc and it is just an awesome machine. It's incredibly small, low power usage so the battery lasts quite a while, and just great for basic usage. Turns out that you can get a desktop version now also called the EeeBox that just may solve my whole desktop conundrum. Plus it's only $304.99! On the down side, it's only got a 160 gigabyte hard drive. My computer has 1 terabyte (1000 gigabytes) and I've got 646 gig of it filled. So I would need about 4 of those hard drives. They are coming out with a newer version soon.

nc

nickname

I am now louisdavout(at)live.com. Maybe that will be less offensive.

nc
ld

class

So I was in my Cherokee class last night and the instructor was pronouncing "tohitsu" which means "How are you?". The previous night he had pronounced it as "toe hee jew" but last night he was pronouncing it as "toe hee juh" so I asked a question as to the pronunciation. Apparently that was the wrong thing to ask as it was mostly ignored. I did get a short answer that went something like this: "We learned the language from our family and so pronunciation may not be standard". I'm not sure that he was directly referencing my question though. So I'm guessing I either:

1. Offended him because he thought I was calling him out on his invalid pronunciation. (I wasn't).
2. He doesn't like me because of my nickname "nuclearcowboy". I'm not sure if that is offensive to them.
3. I'm just not part of the "crowd" and their culture. A lot of them know each other and I'm the outsider.

So anyway... I am glad to hear about the pronunciation because "goodbye" is "donadagohvi" which is pronounced "doh nah dah go hunh eee" and I'm going to start pronouncing it as "aww revwah" since it's easier for me. Ok... Just kidding.

I am going to pick a new nickname for the next class I sign up for as I didn't even think about it possibly being offensive. That will involve yet another email address. I have about 5 or 6 already (all with nuclearcowboy). I need a nice Southern-American name so something like Emmanuel Grouchy (last name is pronounced "Groo Shay") will not work although the actual grouchy part would work brilliantly for me. I'm thinking Louis Davout ("Lu wee Dah Vu") will work because Louis evokes thoughts of an older gentleman. I could just use Bill Allen but that's too simple.

nc

Oh dear!

Got a call from our realtor tonight and the buyers of our home may want us to be out of the house by 5/1 instead of 5/15 as we had planned. We still have some stuff in our house and so I guess we will have to get on the ball. Tomorrow night, we are going to drive over to Diamond and pick up a load. I'm not griping though because at least we will be on our way out. No more mowing, worrying about the house, etc... It's all good.

Saturday is alumni day and I will be moving the rest of our stuff out of the house so I will miss it (good excuse huh!). Miranda is going to go though. I don't mind because as it is with all experiences from high school, if you weren't there you probably won't understand what they are talking about. It's a full day of that for me since I never attended Independence Bible School and instead went to Vinita High School. As we live here longer, I am getting to know more people, so I wouldn't be totally lost and definitely not as lost as when we first moved here. I am the talker of the family anyway (as you can probably tell from my blogging) and so I do pretty well in social situations.

I called Dad tonight and Grandma Jeanne is unchanged so I guess my bug didn't get over to her.

Almost time for my class so I'd better wrap this up.

nc

help!

I am in need of assistance. I am needing a new desk and have been thinking about what I want it to look like in general. Here's my problem. I look at computer screens and electronics all day and would like to minimize the clutter but I don't want a big, clunky computer desk. Here's what I'm thinking...

I would like a writing desk similar to this (except much wider - more on that later). I only want one of the drawers to be real and the space between the top of the desk and the bottom of the desk to be completely empty. I want a small hole cut in the top of the desk to run the wires into the empty area (i.e. hidden from view). Now we get to the tricky part. I would like a hollow leg (in the desk and not a Christmas Story Leg Lamp either), where the wires could be ran down the leg. This will be either for a "somewhat" disguised plug-in in the floor or (if we build a new house) a false floor.

Here's how big it needs to be:

That's a laptop and 2 big screens, 2 keyboards, and 2 mice. What am I going to do with the desktop? I am thinking a Computer cabinet like this that would be placed away from the desk. Unfortunately the display will have to use extra chords that are ran across the floor (unless I get a false floor) but I think I could probably cover them with a rug of some kind.

So now my plea for help. Is there a place where I could buy one (or even get one built) that anyone knows of?

You can comment on here or simply email me at nuclearcowboy(at)gmail.com. You will need to replace the (at) with @. I did this to avoid even more spam. Basically spammers search the Internet looking for XXX@YYY.YYY (just in case you didn't know). Where XXX is a user, YYY is a domain (i.e. gmail.com).

Incidentally I saw the two gold spheres on the desktop and was wondering what they were. I thought Miranda had ate the last of my Ferrero Rocher candy awhile back but there they are! I didn't accuse her of such and didn't even mention it to her but I probably need to apologize for even thinking such of her. Sorry Babe!

nc

We need to move to Detroit

According to this story:

In Detroit, the median sales price for a home is now a pathetic $5,800, down more than $66,000 from seven years ago. An estimated 16,000 foreclosed homes are on the market in the city of about 920,000 residents.

$5,800 median price for a home! Wow! On the downside... It's Detroit.

back to the routine.

I got to play with TomTom a little bit more last night. I now have the driving directions in French. Cherokee wasn't available. I am going to have to learn a few more numbers in French. It gets pretty tricky because numbers in French are odd. Taking the number 85 for example. In English it is of course, eighty five. In French, it is quatre-vingt-cinq. Translated: four twenty five. Meaning 4 twenties and 5.

Stubby is back to his old self. Must have just been sick. This is unfortunate. He is currently sitting outside, barking at an imagined attacker or squirrel. He is a truly valiant warrior that is only held back by his size... and his courage... and his age. Basically he isn't very valiant unless it's a motorcycle or a Fed-Ex / UPS guy. He hates both of them (must be something about the vehicles).

Yet another hectic night. Supper as soon as Miranda gets home, soccer at 5:30, my class at 7:30. I am supposed to do some more work on Tony and Brenda Smiths computer but I think it's going to have to wait until tomorrow night.

nc

Back hom

Finally made it home (no thanks to TomTom). TomTom got confused about our residence and didn't think that I could cross the median on 10th Street. Worked pretty well until that though. In case you are wondering why I went with TomTom instead of Garmin, the TomTom was $99 and the Garmin was $129.

One very cool thing about TomTom. It can tell you directions in different languages apparently. I told Miranda and she said "Oh No!!!". So I can see us traveling through San Antonio. Miranda will be hollering at me: "WHERE ARE YOU GOING?". I will be driving and frantically flipping through my French/English dictionary trying to figure out that last word and screaming back: "I DON'T KNOW! I'M NOT THAT FLUENT!" Shortly afterwards, the police will have to become involved.

I haven't got to play with it much because the new map download is 830 MB. Almost a gig of data. So it's taking awhile.

Well I'd better go... Molly Brewer and some friends are here.

nc

today.

Well, the work day is almost over. Getting ready to head back to Independence. I did buy a Tom Tom unit over here in Monett with my saved money. I bought it over here because sales tax is a bit cheaper. I saw a lot of Jack Henry (my previous employer) people at Wal-mart today, including one of my best friends, Dan Moots who is also a writer.

It was nice to see them again, however it wasn't so nice to know that the absolutely terrible job that I used to have has now turned into a nice and easy slow paced job. I used to get 15+ calls a day that would take about 2-3 hours each and would be on call every 3rd day. I was (obviously) consistently way behind and that doesn't count the dreaded "pager duty" where I'd get probably 3-4 calls a night from 10:00 - 3:00 on average. On a bad night, I work work all day and go home and work all night too. I would have pager duty once or twice a week and an entire weekend about every 2 months. It was not fun. Luckily those days are behind me.

Maybe I'll use Tom Tom to get me home.

nc

tonight

Yet another busy night. Weight Watchers weigh in at 4:45. Go out to eat and then off to Patrick's soccer game at 6:00. Back home for a bit and then off to a Meet & Greet for Patrick's Kindergarten class next year at 7:00. I have to cut out early for my class at 7:30.

I'm tired of running.

And then... Tomorrow morning I'm off at 4:30 A.M. to drive to Monett.

nc

brief explanation.

For those not "in the know" about us and are wondering about all these toys that I am always looking at, here is a brief explanation about the state of my "personal finances". Please note that this is different than the family finances.

Since I am a child at heart (and some would say in mind also), I try to stay away from the finances as much as possible. Miranda has typically run the finances in the family because she is a bugetary wizard (actually since she's female that would technically make her a witch but we will avoid that word). I have taken Accounting I and Accounting II but my personal theory is "as long as you are within a couple hundred bucks, who cares?" This theory of mine does not hold up well in the real world. Oddly enough, I am the economist of the family but as any economist will tell you, there is a wide gulf between Economics and Personal Finance.

So I am put on an allowance and whenever I want to buy something stupid or silly, I just save up my allowance. You know, like a 15 year old kid. So for hats, electronics, music, candy,etc... that's how I buy my toys. That last sentence I just wrote there really brings the realization of how much like a child I am and I hate having to examine myself like that!

Anyway...There are a multitude of reasons that we do this but the main one is bankruptcy avoidance.

So for anyone that says: "Poor Miranda and the children, having to go without food so that evil Bill can buy toys". Pfft. Please also note that the future, Sally the Porsche 911, comes out of family finances when appropriate, and at that point feel free to bad-mouth me.

I will hold off on the hat purchase for now because the next "toy" is going to be a Garmin or Tom Tom. When we drive to San Antonio this summer, I want to have one. Aaron and Lindsay offered to loan us theirs but I don't like borrowing things (especially electronic things). Too many things can happen. Thanks for the offer though. We do appreciate it.

nc

last hat update?

Bicorne hat at clearwaterhats.com for $110. It's the last hat on the page. It's almost a tricorne and they call it one but I think it's more of a bicorne.

For my dad... Take a look at the difference between a bowler and a derby here.

nc

another hat update.

Still on the prowl for a decently priced bicorne hat. I did find a place to buy them finally (without having to have it custom made). Unfortunately it's in Paris, France. Also the price is still a bit more than I would like to pay. The first one is 183 euros which converts to approximately $236. If you want a laugh though, here's the maintenance advice:

This hat is in pure wool.
To waterproof it, you address to a dyer or inform you with the ray “HARDWARE STORE” on the great surface in order to find a bomb waterproofing to do it by yourself.
According to the techniques and products' used, the treatment will be more or less durable.
You can modify or catch up with the shape of one hat using steam obtained starting from a domestic iron connected to a mini-power station vapor (NEVER NOT TO PASS BY AGAIN a HAT!) or failing this, starting from an ebullient water pan.
Strongly impregnate the vapor hat and give forms it to him desired (rectified edges, head mast widened, reformed cap etc…) await 5 mn by maintaining the new form, time that the vapor disappears. It IS FINISHES!
That supposes obviously that it remains enough of finish in wool of the hat, if it is not the case, addresses you to a dyer or informs you with the ray “HARDWARE STORE” on the great surface in order to find a bomb of finish for to prepare yourself your hat.

It's like they picked random words out of an English dictionary. I like their attempted use of the word "impregnate". Someone is confused and I'm not sure if it's them or me.

nc

weekend update.

Finally back home after a crazy weekend. Mostly bad news all the way around. Saturday got off to a start by raining. Miranda took the children to the Young Authors Conference where it sounded like they had a fun time. I took Patrick and Nellie down to get Grandpa and Grandma Allen in Vinita since they missed the birthday party. Grandma Jeanne is not doing well. Hospice has been called in and apparently she has a maximum of about 2 weeks. While I was down there, I started coming down with something. That night I was running a slight fever. Unfortunately I probably gave it to Grandma so instead of "sitting at death's door", after I gave her my bug, she is now doing the equivalent of "knocking on the door, ringing the door bell, and trying to get Death's attention by shouting obscenities at him". I would say "Sorry Grandma" but "Sorry" just really doesn't quite cut it.

Sunday was Paul's birthday. I'm not sure the exact age, but it's another year older for him. He smoked some pork and it was GREAT! Very tasty. He is a great cook. I kept my portions down for Weight Watchers but I'm having a problem. I've adjusted to eating smaller portions and now I can't stop losing weight. This irritates Miranda to no end. I'm starting to look like a Holocaust victim (not that bad but getting there). So I'm going to have to adjust my diet some more.

Stubby Clarence Allen is about at the end of his life also. Stubby is Miranda's miniature Rat Terrier that is about 11 years old. He has taken to yelping whenever he moves so we are going to take him to the vet this week. I'm guessing that it isn't going to be good news. I don't mention him much because he is a detestable little dog. I have disliked Rat Terriers ever since my Grandpa had them when I was a tot. They are territorial, grumpy, dislike children, etc... Him and the children have kind of fallen into a "truce" state where they leave him alone and he leaves them alone. After he passes on there will be no more pets at the Bill and Miranda Allen household.

Now some bright news...

Apparently Nellie has decided to learn French. She is counting from 1 to 5. Must have learned it from Patrick (who can count to 10). Unfortunately I can't teach them a whole lot except for snippets of the language. I can say elementary stuff and even put together simple sentences. Example: Je tombe sur le poisson violet, mon chemise a un trou, et je veux un chapeau s'il vous plait.

This translates as: I fell on the purple fish, my shirt has a hole, and I would like a hat please.

You would be surprised as how little this phrase pops up in a typical conversation.

nc

Patrick's Birthday Party.

So tonight was Patrick's Birthday party. Miranda will be posting the pictures to her blog but I did want to show you 4 pictures in particular. Miranda cooked my snails and they were the best I'd ever had. Wow!!!!

Here's the work in progress:

Final result:

Snack time!

You will notice that there are 2 people missing from snack time. Jane and Miranda. Miranda almost did but then she saw them and almost started gagging. Jane didn't even look. Paul liked them and had one. Since I'm the pig of the family, I had the rest. Definitely got to do that again.

nc

clothes

So George Will has a column out discussing clothing and style. You can read it here but it's basically a rant about jeans. Men apparently should dress like Fred Astaire and the women like Grace Kelly. This reminded me of a guy that lived in Ritchey, MO called Clifford Reed (gone now for quite a few years). He mentioned that he thought people should wear hats to church.

I'm still thinking this over but I am one that would definitely like some differentiation in my dress. I'm just not sure what to substitute with.

Miranda was complaining this morning about my jeans. They are loose-fit and with all the weight that I've lost, I appear to be wearing denim balloons around each leg. Maybe a change in fashion would be good for me.

Of course, one of the things limiting my fashion is the fact that I shop at Wal-Mart.

I will have to give this some additional thought. You may or may not hear more about this in the future.

UPDATE:

On a related note.

nc

dumb.

I don't get the idea of fashion. I'm looking at uncrate.com and find some kayak/sailboats. Nice boats and very "fashionable". They are wanting about $10,500!!! For a kayak without the sail rigging!!! I've got a better idea. How about a 25' Catalina for almost a 3rd of the price. It also won't dump you into the water at random. Plus it sleeps 4-6 people. The catch is that you have to bring it back from Charleston, SC. Anybody headed that way??

nc

weekend.

So I just called mom to talk with her a bit. Apparently they aren't going to be able to make it to Patrick's birthday party due to Grandma Jeanne being so poorly. Maybe going to see them will be my weekend trip .

nc

music

Nothing affects me like music. You already know how I feel about Ave Maria by Pavarotti, but here's a couple that I think you will enjoy also. First an explanation for anyone who's out of the loop (me included). Apparently there is a TV show in England called "England's Got Talent" and it's a talent show. Everyone (myself included) judge a book by it's cover too often. If you watch these and aren't blown away then you aren't human.

Paul Potts singing "Nessun Dorma" from Turandot.

Susan Boyle singing "I Dream A Dream" from Les Miserable.

To my dad... You have got to watch these!!!

nc

family update

Patrick is about half-way through with soccer. They only play the month of April because of tee-ball. I am looking forward to it being over as it gets hectic at night. Last night, Miranda had to work late in preparation for her school function on Saturday and didn't get home until 4:30. So we ran to Dairy Queen to get a quick bite to eat and get to the soccer game by 5:30. That lasted until 6:15 or so. We run home and they head off to children's church and my class is from 7:30 - 8:30. They arrive home at about 8:45 or so, sit around for a bit and then head off to bed. Very hectic and very much "on the run".

Patrick's birthday party is this Friday night at 6:00. Miranda ordered a Scooby-Doo ice cream cake from Dairy Queen last night. It will be nice to see everyone again. I am hoping my mom and dad can come up but I'm not sure with my Grandma Jeanne not doing so well. I think Paul and Jane will be over. Maybe Aaron (we'll miss Lindsay). I think (tied for favorite sister-in-law) Angie is working, so Paul and Jane will probably be bringing Derek. My mom and dad may make it now that Tax time is history. I'm not sure about Pibs as it's a long way from Sarcoxie.

Saturday, Miranda is going to Pitt State to a Young Writers Conference and taking some children in her class. I was going to do something with children but it's supposed to rain that day so I'm not sure what we will do. I would eventually like to take them to Woolaroc but I'm not sure how much of it is outdoors. I haven't been there since I was very small but I know that I loved it. Patrick really likes buffalo (or used to, I'm not sure these days). and I figure they'd have some mounted ones and live ones as well. If you've been there recently and think they would enjoy this on a rainy day, please let me know in the comments.

Nellie has been pretty funny lately. She is really talking. Last night on the way home from the soccer game, we were singing children's songs that she's learned at church. She loves "Deep And Wide", "Jesus's Love Is Bubbling Over", and "Behold, Behold". Over and over. As Miranda has mentioned, she is in a "ice cream bar" mood. I'm the mean daddy and won't let her have one when doesn't go potty at school. Doesn't seem to bother her too much though so we will have to find another suitable punishment. Children are challenging

nc

lucky.

We are very lucky here in "fly-over" country. I found this article about a Happiness Index. Kansas ranks #3, and a majority of the top 15 are in the Mid-West. It must be the slower pace of life. Interestingly enough, Missouri was down to #15. The bottom 3 are also interesting: California, Florida, and Oregon.

Money definitely doesn't come into play with happiness with one catch. You have to have enough to live on or you aren't that happy no matter where you live. I know I could make a lot more money if I wanted to live in the Northeast, but let's face it... It's the Northeast. I went to Lititz, PA to work at Susquehanna Bank at my last job. We went out in January. That was the last time I will ever visit the Northeast in winter. It was evil cold. You have to be insane to live up year round, although it would be nice in the summer to avoid the oppressing humidity around here.

nc

*ding ding*

We have a winner. The Porsche 911 that I buy/paint^* will be yellow.

* = Assuming that

1. I can find a suitable car at a reasonable price
2. Miranda lets me. Pressure will be applied.

nc

funny.

Apparently at a Greenville, S.C. tax protest, they are selling an "Obama burger". You pay for one, they cut it in half and give half of the burger to the person behind you.

Seen here.

nc

Economics

Typically gold is used as a hedge against inflation. Given the printing of money lately that has been going on, I figured it would be through the roof. Interestingly enough, it really hasn't. Maybe my fears are unfounded. I have been wrong before. Once or twice.

Who would have thought that the people that get paid big bucks to do these kind of things would know more about it than some idiot living in Kansas working as a computer programmer? Just wild.

nc

Interesting stuff.

So yellow is now tied with red in my poll. I pick the tie breaker, so unless something changes yellow it is! Actually I won't buy a yellow car. I will find the right one first and then have it painted.

The Independence Bible School is having problems finding a language instructor, so they are looking at the Rosetta Stone software. However I found something interesting the other day. Free foreign language lessons over the Internet. With the key word being free. Arabic is on there but I have kinda given up that dream and moved on. Quite a few Chinese, French, Spanish. and even Latin. No Cherokee though. But I've already given you the Cherokee link. Here's a list of the number of speakers by language.

Luckily I already speak English (or attempt to). Take a look at this video I found. It's a Japanese game show on TV where the contestants watch someone trying to speak English and if they laugh they are beaten. It's hilarious (well I find it hilarious anyway but I'm odd). If you don't want to watch the whole thing, watch around the 2:45 - 3:45 mark. Trying to say 100 is awesome!

Great stuff. I could spend the rest of my life studying the Japanese culture and still not begin to understand it.

nc

Happy Birthday, Patrick!

Today Patrick Wayne Allen is 5 years old.

nc

class.

So I had my first Cherokee class. He went through some of the syllabary but didn't make it all the way through. The class is a bit more informal than I'm used to. That's not a bad thing and not a good thing, I'm just not used to that. The Cherokee language cannot be directly translated like other "European" languages. For instance, they do not have a "b" sound. This is a problem for someone named Bill. The technology is somewhat limited unless it was just a rough night for the networks involved. The video was pretty choppy but it's not a big thing since the sound came through very well. Overall it was pretty fun.

nc

Albert & Della Schaper

Albert called and Della's mother, Christine Turner has passed away. Condolences to the family from the Allen's.

nc

children

I've always found it funny when a married couple that are having problems decide to have a baby to "get closer".

Here's a report showing a decrease in martial satisfaction after children. Now as they note:

Children don't ruin everything, Stanley points out.

"There are different types of happiness in life and that while some luster may be off marital happiness for at least a time during this period of life, there is a whole dimension of family happiness and contentment based on the family that couples are building," he said. "This type of happiness can be powerful and positive but it has not been the focus of research."

All I've got to say is "you will get comfortable with bodily fluids of all kinds and a lot of them at the same time". 'Nuff said.

Children are fun though. It's just better to have a strong marriage before you start having them (in my opinion).

nc

vacation.

Since we will (hopefully) have our house sold by next year, Miranda and I are thinking about a 10 year anniversary trip next year. We weren't going to do anything because of the house situation but I believe that it will be resolved by that time. So now we have to come up with some place to go. You already know how I feel traveling abroad but unfortunately I don't think I will be able to avoid it. Asia is out, Eastern Europe is out, Africa is out, South America is out (with a few exceptions). That is pretty much the world. I'm thinking Vinita, Oklahoma! Just kidding Miranda! So I guess the question is where to go (on the assumption that we get to go anywhere which may not be possible).

• Ireland - You can take tours and stay in castles (right up my alley).
• England (the rest of the U.K.) - They speak English. Food and weather are terrible. Great history.
• France - Best food in the world. The traffic in the big cities is horrific and the signs are in French. Plus they are legendary for their rudeness.
• Spain - Great place to visit from what I've heard.
• Italy - I really don't want this but Miranda really does. There is nothing that allures me to Italy. Their food is pasta (noodles? NOODLES???? Who's idea was it base the food of a country on noodles?). At least China has Crab Rangoon (well American China). And any place that their idea of dessert is Coffee and Lady Fingers has got the wrong idea. On the bright side, Venice has the gondoliers. Plus the Sistine Chapel. Maybe I could take in a Juventus game.
• Belgium - This rates very high in my book. Two reasons. Belgium Chocolate and Waterloo.
• Germany - Great food but a beer drinkers country and you can't drink the tap water. I'm guessing if I asked for Diet Mt. Dew I would get thrown out of the country (or just soundly thrashed). My liver would give out on me after two days there! Beautiful sights though.
• Switzerland/Austria - See Germany
• Netherlands/Sweden/Finland/Norway - These can all be lumped together in my book. Nice but uninteresting.

That pretty much covers Europe. The rest of the world can be lumped into:

• Saint Martin - The only island in the Caribbean that I would visit. I knew a lady at my last job that went there every year and loved it. The rest of the islands "seem" unstable. I'm probably incorrect on that as Diane has already pointed out but a line has got to be drawn somewhere and I'm drawing it!!! (Slightly kidding).
• Hawaii - Nice but we went there on our honeymoon. Incidentally, there is a "movement" over there to secede from the U.S. and so there are places where we couldn't go (one of the entire islands you can't get to). This struck me as odd.
• U.S. - Tons of places to see in the U.S. but unfortunately I'm not sure they would be considered "romantic" enough for a 10 year wedding anniversary.
• Canada - Miranda wants to take the train ride across Canada. This has the appeal of ptomaine poisoning to me. I'm not sure that matters though. Quebec would be interesting as they speak English and French but that's only a small part of the trip. I would love to take in a hockey game in Toronto and/or Montreal.

That's pretty much it. I'm sorry for the listing all our options and I know that you probably don't care but I'm also writing this down for our consumption. I'm taking this list and ranking our options (because I'm a geek and that's how I solve problems).

Of course by the time that rolls around, we probably won't want to spend our money on that anyway.

This year we are taking a 3 day trip to San Antonio. Maybe I'll get to meet Rose! We are taking the children to Sea World, a Tour of San Antonio, and not sure what else. I think we will have a great time.

As the children get older and as long as we can afford it, we would like to take a vacation and get away for a week. I would like for them to be exposed to new stuff. Even if it isn't that big of a vacation. Last year we went to Big Hill Lake outside of Cherryvale for a couple of days (it rained the entire time). Boy could we tell you stories. Most aren't fit for human consumption though.

nc

Il n`est point ici, mais il est ressuscité!

Happy Easter! I had to drag out the suit today to go to church today. I am able to fit back into my suit that I bought before we were married. I've wore it so few times that it looks brand new. I do actually like suits (or the theory of them anyway) but they just don't work for me. The Parson's church is just a great little church and we enjoy it quite a bit. The pastor is Albert Schaper. He and the rest of the church are so friendly and they make us feel right at home even though we haven't been there that long. I would love to play my guitar, but Miranda plays the piano (much to her misfortune according to her). That leaves Patrick and Nellie to sit with moi. Patrick could actually sit by himself pretty well but Nellie is potty-training, so it does not work at this point.

We went to Miranda's aunt Marsha and her husband Steve's house after church. Her grandmother Ellen, Paul, and her uncle Mark was there also. Mark has recently moved from Bakersfield, CA to Wichita to be closer to the family and for health reasons (I don't think it's terribly serious though). It was a great meal and a lot of fun. Mark is sort-of recently back from Iraq. He was in the Marines and did a few tours over there. He loves eating strange food, so him and I get along pretty well. He didn't learn much Arabic unfortunately.

Speaking of strange food... Since tax time is almost over, I am needing some help eating some snails. I am thinking that for Patricks b-day, my dad and I will have the snails that they bought for me awhile back. Paul may have some also but I doubt if anyone else will. My mom most definitely will not be having any no matter how hard I try to convince her.

Tuesday is Patrick's birthday. Miranda has decided to have the party at our house next Friday instead of Big Cheese Pizza. Of course, she'll probably change her mind again by the time I get this posted. I think both sets of Grandparents will be up and Miranda is going to throw a party for him at school too.

We are in the process of moving stuff out of the house now. We have a few odds and ends in the house still left. We have a storage unit at Diamond too that is fairly full. So I think we will get a storage unit over here and start the moving process. We have too much stuff (I would link to the great skit by George Carlin about "Stuff" but there's quite a bit of language. You can look it up if you are interested. It's funny and true).

Aaron and Lindsay were down but they were with her parents and so we didn't get to see them. Missed you guys (but we completely understand). Angie has finally made another post. Sheesh, just because you have 3 kids, a job, a husband, a life, and busy all the time doesn't mean you should slack off on posting to your blog!!! Come on! I do like the sign too. It is me and I'm raising your taxes to buy a sports car! Hope you don't mind.

We were driving over to Joplin on Saturday afternoon and as we were leaving town we saw this old guy (I'm guessing 70's and I'm not talking about being born in the 1970's either) wearing a cowboy hat and driving a brand-spanking new Ford Mustang (red) with the top down. I got a brief laugh until Miranda said "That will be you in 40 years". We decided that there would be 2 differences. I would be driving a Porsche 911. I would also be wearing a bicorne hat instead of a cowboy hat. You know I would too! I'm betting I will get odder looks than that guy. I'm not eccentric, I'm just insane.

nc

funny.

I find this video very funny in a sick/twisted kind of way.

I'm not sure what the moral of the story is. I'm guessing it's "Don't Trust Women When It Comes To Playing For $200,000". Or maybe it's just "Don't Trust Women."

Big news!

We have received an offer on our house! So it appears that this weekend (and maybe a few more) will be spent moving the rest of our stuff from Diamond to Independence. So now I won't have to worry about mowing this summer and taking care of the house. We are going to wait until 2010 to decide what to do about a new house. My job is in the Manufacturing sector and I don't want to make any sudden movements since the economy is still unknown. On the bright side an economic recovery is probably already underway.

As for the next house, we are undecided whether to build or buy and I'm guessing we will cross that bridge when we get there. With me working from home, I have to have a study that is preferably separate from the house, or at minimum, can be isolated. I really don't want a "4th bedroom" because they tend to be close to the "2nd" and "3rd" bedrooms which tend to be loud with children running around and hollering.

On the bad side, my grandmother isn't doing real well health-wise. I'm not for sure what all is involved but it's not looking very promising. That's my mom's mom (my dad's mom isn't in well health either because she died in the 1980's).

Easter Sunday is upon us. I think Paul (dad-in-law) wants us to come over in the afternoon and do the family-time thing. That will be nice as I haven't seen them for a few weeks. I dislike Easter because you have to dress up. You know how some guys look good in suits? That guy isn't me. I look rumpled no matter what I wear. Now that I've lost about 20 pounds, it's just exacerbated the problem. Oh well... That's life.

nc

family update

My sister, Emily called last night. I really enjoy talking to her. She calls every once in awhile. We were just talking about families. Her children are really growing up. When we went to church in Sarcoxie, we would go to their house almost every Sunday night. Her husband. Rod, is NASCAR crazy. I can take it or leave it. Miranda taught with Jamie McMurray's mom so we root for him but we don't consider ourselves real fans.

Last night was Patrick's soccer game and Molly Brewer went with us. She is the daughter of the IBS Principal/Superintendent(?). She was a big help with Nellie and Nellie really likes her. I think the children are going to start going to Children's Church in town on Wednesday nights. Molly goes to that as do most of the children in Miranda's class.

I've been kicking around an idea to create my own website. I don't know if I want to invest that kind of time into it though. Plus I don't know if I have the "eye for design". Technology isn't hard, it always boils down to design.

Everyone is off tomorrow except for me. Miranda is going to take Patrick to his Easter party at school. I'm not sure if Nellie is going to school or not. I'm not sure what Miranda will do the rest of the day. Probably clean house, read, etc... She has a hard time keeping away from boredom on her days off. She is one that has to be active and busy (i.e. high-maintenace). I wouldn't have it any other way though. I don't have problems with boredom on my days off. Always plenty of stuff to do however I have been in the mood to hit Wichita again. So watch out Aaron and Lindsay!

Patrick's birthday party is going to be at Big Cheese Pizza (assuming we can get the party room) here in Independence on the night of the 17th. He is wanting a cowboy hat for his birthday. Hard to believe that he will be 5 years old already. Nellie will be 3 in August.

nc

Tonight.

Here's the bad part about Miranda working. She gets REALLY involved in her job. So tonight (as has been done on Monday/Wednesday) she is working after school and so that involves me watching the children by myself. This is not good for my long term mental stability. I do manage though. Plus all day on the 18th also (she is taking her students to Pitt State for a writers conference) so I have to figure out something for that day also. I can't take them anywhere because she is taking the Expedition and I drive a S-10. The police tend to gripe with the children sitting next to me (not in their car seats because the truck is not big enough - going off-topic here... The S-10 is unique in that it's not big enough for a family vehicle and also can't haul enough to be considered a truck either. I'm not sure why I own it to be honest... back on-topic). Plus they complain when I use my "father helper" (i.e. 190 proof moonshine) and drive also. Just kidding on that last part.

Cherokee class starts next Monday night. Miranda declined to learn it with me. I accused her of not sharing her husband's interest's. Of course that accusation has been quite overused. She also isn't interested in Arabic, French, Fencing, Sail boating, Napoleonic Miniatures, Steel Guitar Music, and I'm sure I'm leaving out quite a few others as well. She has however taken a great interest lately in divorce lawyers. I'm not sure what the appeal is yet, but I'm sure I'll figure it out sooner or later.

Another soccer game for Patrick tonight. When you sign children up for a soccer league, boy they get signed up!!! I'm sick of it already. Plus they don't teach them to play like the pro's. That would make it a lot more interesting.

Nellie just can't shake the cough she's had. This morning she coughed from 3:00 to about 4:30. Maybe the weather will turn off nice enough soon for her to get over it.

If you haven't noticed, I have a new poll up there. Please vote. When I get the car I will definitely upload pics (assuming I'm still young enough to actually drive and work a camera). I got my 401(k) statement today. I'm in sackcloth and ashes. It wasn't as bad as it has been in the near past though. I think I'll move to Zimbabwe, for each U.S. Dollar, I can get $37,456,777 Zimbabwe Dollars. I could be a trillionaire!!! WOOWOO! There is a minor problem that bread costs $10 million Zimbabwe dollars so it isn't all good. Sure... Laugh now... Wait until inflation gets going over here. Of course in the U.S. we call it Quantitative Easing which is much better than calling it Printing Money And Causing Huge Amounts Of Inflation. Unfortunately the outcome will be similar.

nc

bad day.

Yesterday was a gobsmackingly horrific day at work. The kind that makes you want to "jump like it's 1929".

Then we got off to a somewhat bad start after the work day was over. The good news came first. I weighed-in at 152.8. *ding ding* I've made goal. That was pretty much the only goal (you will understand that statement more in-depth later on). Next we ate at the local Chinese food place where the food was "substandard" to put it mildly (To put it not so mildly, it was the Attack of Mao Tse-Tung and it didn't set real well). Next it's off to a soccer game. It's 40 degrees and a mild Kansas wind of 300 mph giving the chill factor of about -30. Patrick followed the other kids around with his hands in his pockets not really caring about anything. He does love running around though. No goals for him. No assists either. I think he had a brief "touch" so we'll just say "he doesn't hog the ball and is a team player!". He is learning very well though and as soon as the temperature rises above freezing, we will go outside and practice on our own.

Tony Smith brought their computer over as they couldn't get a game loaded. Setup was giving them this error message: Can't run 16-bit Windows program. Insufficient memory to run this application.

Here's a tech tip. This program had been installed previously on this same computer. The computer had just been booted and basically no programs were running (i.e. it had plenty of memory). In this case my tip is "Take a look at the CD/DVD. If the CD/DVD is dirty, screwy things happen when trying to access the disc". In this case, the CD was pretty scratched up so I cleaned it off the best I could and got it to install. I'm not sure how much longer it has though. Please note that thanks to Windows, the error has absolutely nothing to do with the actual issue.

Tony offered to pay me. but that is silly because Tony has an uncle that works on Porsche 911's. So when I finally get mine, he is going to call his uncle for advice on what years and models. The only thing I know is colors but I haven't decided (time for another poll?). Miranda wants Red. I want either, Black, White, or Blue (because Sally is one HOT babe!), or Yellow. Decisions, decisions. Unfortunately I have a lot of time to mull it over as it will be awhile before I get it.

I'm really getting down about our house. Unless we rent it out, I'm kinda leaning towards moving back until we can get it sold. I really hate doing that as Miranda really likes her job and we have made this our home now. The longer it sits empty, the more work it's going to start needing. More decisions, decisions (real decisions too, not stupid toy decisions).

*sigh*

nc

home again.

So we made it home after a hectic weekend. The whole lawn mowing experience didn't go so well. The battery was dead so I had to push mow the lawn. No biggie because I need the exercise anyway. I called my brother-in-law and borrowed his battery charger. No luck with keeping a charge as the battery is apparently bad. So I managed to get the lawn mower backed out using the battery charger, changed the oil, put it in the garage because it has a low tire too. So next weekend, I get to put in a new battery. Thanks to my father-in-law, I have an air compressor that I can pump the tire up with.

We did go to the the birthday party on Saturday and probably another one next Saturday! Nathan's (Emily's other son) is having one sometime next weekend. Birthday party and mowing next weekend. Ever have deja vu? (yes it's missing the diacritical marks above the "e" and the "a" but blogger is finicky about fonts and I don't want to take the time to get it right)

Patrick had his first soccer game on Saturday. I missed it but Miranda has some pictures that she will be uploading soon. He had a lot of fun. He has another one tomorrow night. It's supposed to be in the 30's though so it will be cold. He is really starting to get into soccer and he watched some of the Leixoes/Sporting game (Portuguese league - note the missing diacritical marks again) with me. He doesn't have a long attention span though for stuff like that.

Nellie has been watching a lot of the Barkyardigans, particularly one episode about pirates. She was looking at the instructions for Lincoln Logs and said "Treasure Map!". We get such a kick out of her. She has her own personality and is going to be quite a bit different than Patrick. She is such a drama queen though.

Weigh-in is tomorrow. Friday night was not a good night. I went to Iggy's Diner in Carthage and had the foot long cheese coney with onion rings. I was so full that I didn't eat anything on Saturday except a piece of cake at the birthday party. That's probably not real healthy. I sat at the bar (at Iggy's Diner and not an actual bar) and chatted with a guy that came in. He was 80+ years old and had been playing golf since he was 14. Needless to say he talked about golf. I can hold a conversation with anyone about most anything so I handled myself fairly well considering I don't know anything about golf. I did pick up some tips though (assuming I ever go golfing). There's nothing like getting that "home town" feel than sitting at the bar of a diner. Everyone chatting it up with everyone else.

We found out at the party that Bill, Valerie, and Lance Filsinger were off to Grenada so that was big news! Bill had went awhile back (a year or so ago?) but had to come back early when his grandfather died. Bill and I were great friends growing up but alas, time passes, marriages, children, jobs move you in different directions, etc... We are still friends but don't see much of each other. One of my favorite stories is when we went to Branson to see Ray Stevens. We were waiting in line when an older lady came up and asked us how many were in our party. They had two people that weren't there and wanted to know if we wanted to get in free if we didn't mind sitting with a retirement community. Tickets were $25 or so, we were single (and poor) so we didn't mind at all! We had a great time that night. Lots of great memories (except the driving ones. If you know Bill at all you know what I'm talking about!!!). He's a great and funny guy.

I hope you all had a great weekend yourselves.

nc

tea

So now tea is the new hot item. Weird how cyclical the world works. I tried to buy some sassafras one time in Wichita and you can't buy it. Apparently the FDA has banned it. I think we now know where my liver issue came from now. Makes a great tea though.

I do like tea but my beverage of choice is Diet Mt. Dew and Egg Creme's. I would go into my mother-in-law's Braums and have them make me a Chocolate Ice Cream soda without the ice cream. Great stuff. Plus you don't have to worry about the spouse or the kids drinking all your drink because they hate it.

nc

last post.

I would like to formally apologize for the wording of that last post. My mind is slightly off-kilter today. I have a hard time adjusting to being back in office. People talking, phones ringing, the wailing and gnashing of teeth. You know... office noises.

nc

Monett.

Well, I made it to Monett. Tonight I attempt to change the oil (medics will be on standby).

My dad met me in Chetopa last night to loan me their air mattress to sleep on. He had been talking to a guy that does Civil War re-enactments. I think he's trying to get me into that. He's attached to the 77th Pennsylvania. He mentioned that it was tough to find people willing to be on the Union side. Apparently people are still holding grudges over the Civil War (or War of Northern Aggression depending on your point of view). Slightly bizarre but not as much as Osama bin Laden holding a grudge over the Crusades (they ended in the 1200s!). This got me thinking. I don't have a grudge to hold against anyone. I don't feel a great attachment to the North or South. I don't have any repressed ancestry that I know of. My German heritage won't really work because they were typically the ones doing the repressing. My French heritage may have some hope though. Remember Napoleon was exiled to Elba. He was defeated at Waterloo by Wellingon. Wellington's Peninsular regulars (from the Spanish campaign) were defeated in 1812 by Andrew Jackson. Andrew Jackson isn't well loved by the Cherokee. This is a double slight!!! I have found my new cause! Vive L'Empereur!!!

I don't think Miranda would like me tromping all over Oklahoma pretending to be shot anyways. Sorry about that... I'm back to talking about Civil War re-enactments. The uniforms also aren't as cool as my cause either. That's right! A bicorne hat. Maybe I can find a Waterloo or Austerlitz (he won that one) re-enactment.

Anyway... off track again.

It stinks being in Diamond by yourself. McDonald's for breakfast, McDonald's for lunch, anything but McDonald's for supper! Now I remember what it was like being single.

nc

Diane Baber.

I noticed in the comments where Diane was talking about Grenada and some scary situations.  That is my big concern about going to a foreign country.  I guess I read too much news but I think the world sees Americans, two ways:

1. Rich and easy prey (basically your smaller and poorer countries)
2. Stupid and easy prey (Europe/Asia)

I may be completely wrong .  If anyone hasn't looked at her pictures, please do.  Picture #42 and picture #36 are 2 of my favorites.

We are lucky to live in the good ole U.S. of A.

nc

games.

True to form, as soon as I make a statement I always end up regretting it.  Last night I received my subscription copy of PC Gamer.  They are coming out with Battlefield 1943.  I have Battlefield 1942, Battlefield Vietnam, and Battlefield 2.  I'm a fan of the series but you've probably guessed that by now.  I'm sure I will buy this one also.

Tonight I'm off for Missouri.  I have to change the oil in my mower which will take most of the night and probably involve disassembling the big thing under the hood to get it done.  I'm not real mechanically inclined (I'm guessing I'm missing a gene or something).  Then Saturday is mowing day.  yippee.

So Bob and Shar bought a boat.  You know how women start wanting babies when they see a baby?  How come they don't want toys when they see a toy?  Probably maturity.  Luckily I'm not held back by that.  I am happy for them though.  I know it will be a lot of fun.

Actually, Miranda has kinda gotten past the point of wanting babies.  Good thing too because the doctor took me out of the picture.  Here's a tip for all the guys out there.  Instead of getting the big "V" done, just have your spouse kick you as hard as she can about 20 times in the sweets.  Saves you some money and feels about the same for you.  

I've been spending my spare time at GameTableOnline.  I play my favorite game there.  It's called Guillotine.  It's a pretty simple and funny card game involving nobles in the French Revolution and you try to collect the higher point cards by adjusting the line to the guillotine.  To "collect" a card, the noble at the front of the queue gets the guillotine.  It sounds worse than it is.  I had wrote a computer program to play against myself so I've got some playing time under my belt and understand the rules.  I'm starting over because I needed to restructure the program to add in some Artificial Intelligence so that I can play against the computer.  Miranda isn't a game player.  She does like to play Bang! a bit.  I can't get her to play Napoleon in Europe though (too long at 6 hours and too many rules).  

well I'd better get off of here.

nc

*sigh*

I'm getting old.  I can walk into Best Buy and walk out without purchasing anything.  None of the computer games anymore are fun.  The new music stinks and stinks too loud.  Facebook, Twitter, MySpace are silly.  I'm a techie and I'm no longer into techie stuff.  I guess it's just a matter of time before I start gardening.  I signed up on Twitter to see if I liked it and first usage isn't promising.

It's also that time of year again.  Mowing season.  Unfortunately with our house still unsold, it falls to me to mow it or pay to have it mowed.  This proves to be somewhat tricky normally timing-wise.  It takes a couple of hours to mow and weed-eat and so I like to get it done on Saturday.  Friday it appears that I may be headed over to Monett.  So I will probably either get a hotel or run to Vinita to pick up mom and dad's air mattress for use in Diamond.  Saturday afternoon is my nephew Nicholas's birthday party in Sarcoxie, Missouri.  That is also Patrick's first soccer game (which I will miss).  Yet another weekend in Missouri.  Sunday is currently uncounted for so who knows where we will end up in church.

Patrick had his first soccer practice last night.  It was way too cold.  Next practice is Thursday (unless it rains, it's Friday in that case).  He had a lot of fun.  Nellie wanted to get out there also.  I took Miranda by the Urgent Care and took the children to Braums and Wal-Mart.  Patrick didn't have a soccer ball to play with at home, so we had to pick him up one.  He couldn't wait to show Mom!  Nellie may finally be getting over her sickness.  She has had a bad cough lately.  I think a bug is going around.

nc