work.

I had my yearly review today. It went well. They are apparently very happy with my performance. Not sure why, but I'm not complaining! They either love me for my brains or for my gorgeousness. I think it's my gorgeousness.

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egg nog.

Bought some egg nog. Yum yum! I'm the only one in the house that will drink it.

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weekend.

Yesterday, Patrick kept bugging us to put up a Christmas tree. We went to Wal-Mart and the tree we were wanting was sold out. So we bought a white one instead. Patrick and Nellie decorated but Mom had to adjust the decorations because all of them were on the bottom branches. It was very cute. Nellie would put on one and say "There! That's better!".

I was dog tired last night and ended up going to bed about 7:00 or 7:30. Patrick and Nellie were watching a movie in bed. So Miranda got to have some alone time.

Monday I've got to go to Monett. I'm supposed to go to some Pella site that I can't reach from home. So my boss is going to do my review. I'm guessing I'm not going to get a 100% raise (or any raise at all)!

We went over to Paul and Jane's the other night for Thanksgiving meal. It was nice and nice to see everyone again. I hadn't seen most of them for awhile.

Guess I'd better go. Miranda is having issues with Nellie and her dress. Nellie already has her own "style" and she doesn't want to wear what Miranda wants her to.

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pictures.

I'm a huge fan of the Presbyterian Church here in Independence. Not the religion but the church itself. I have no clue of their beliefs. I think that they may be Calvinist but I don't know.

You can see pictures of it here, here, and here. What incredible architecture.

I really want to see inside of it sometime. Maybe we can attend a service there sometime.

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language.

I've hit the brick wall in the Allen household in regards to foreign languages. Nellie has started refusing to speak at all in French. Miranda still has no interest either.

*sigh*

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Thanksgiving

Had a great Thanksgiving at my parent's house. I didn't eat too much but unfortunately Miranda made a pecan pie. I've found that the best way to get rid of the temptation of pecan pie is just to "enter into temptation".

Tonight is the Young/McCormick Thanksgiving. We are going over to Scammon as soon as I'm off work.

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Off to Vinita

Off to Vinita. Hope to leave by 7:30.

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economics

I rail against Keynesian Economics quite a bit and I found a great video that everyone needs to watch. It's not heavy on economic theory and is very easy to watch.

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Today.

Everyone in the house is on vacation except me. So today will be interesting around here.

I've decided that I need to teach Patrick how to play the steel guitar. I've got a small 6 string lap steel that would be great for him to learn on. It's has a terrible nut on it however and so I've ordered a new one. There's a guy at church that is good with stuff like this and he's agreed to work on it for me. I would like Miranda to teach Patrick and Nellie how to read music. I play by ear and don't read at all. It really has held me back.

For Thanksgiving, we will be going to Mom and Dad's. Rod, Emily, and the children will be there as well. Friday night, we will be going to Paul and Jane's.

On the economic front... I went to the doctor and he said that I was "sound as the dollar". The funeral is next week.

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children.

Patrick is really coming along on his reading. Last night he read "Cat In The Hat" with us. He needs some help and prodding but he's doing really well. He loves to read. This makes Nellie want to read. So she gets a book and pretends to read.

It's exciting watching them grow up and learn new things.

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politics

Absolutely hilarious! Sorta vulgar in a few spots but worth it!

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Monett.

Off to Monett this morning. No blogging. Except for this post, obviously.

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weekend.

Yesterday we went to Vinita to visit Mom and Dad. They needed some 'puters worked on. Got them mostly going. Dad's computer still has a few issues but it's workable. Mom's network is not fun to work on at all! But we got her going.

Sports is going decent for me:
New Orleans Saints won again (they haven't lost a game this year).
Juventus won today.
Marseille won yesterday.
OU lost however. This has been a bad year for them.

I also need to cut back on Urban Rivals. Everyone was asleep so I played that all afternoon. I took part in a tournament and came in 170th out of 4,315 people. I've only been playing a week and don't have very good cards. Miranda is starting to get irritated. Maybe soon I'll have enough "Clintz" to buy some great cards!

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tee shirt

I want this tee shirt.

People would come up to me and ask, "What does that say?" I would reply, "I don't know. It's in French." And that is literally what it says. "Je ne sais pas" = "I don't know". "C'est en français!" = "It's in French!". Very humorous.

Here's another one I want.

And another.

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politics.

Apparently more Democrats are unemployed than Republicans. I wonder if they are rethinking their votes? However, I firmly believe that we wouldn't be in any better shape under McCain.

As the Roman republic got old and tired, their leaders kept getting worse and worse. And the people didn't really care or at least didn't stop it. Thus they got ran over by the "barbarians" (Germanic tribes) because basically the people quit trying and merged with the Goths, Huns, Franks (go Franks!!! That's the French in case you didn't catch that), et al. Did you notice that I very appropriately used the Latin term "et al". However I probably didn't use it correctly.

Anyhoo... I suspect history is just repeating itself. Major world powers have collapsed time and time again. And will continue to.

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life.

Last night we went to Bartlesville to get Miranda an outfit for the IBS fall dinner. I do not see how the mall stays in business. It's never very busy. Of course it was a Thursday night but still.

On the way home we stopped by Hastings and I picked up an Irish dictionary. After looking through it though, I've lost some of my desire. It's yet another language with masculine and feminine nouns. What rubbish! Here are my choices for gender neutral languages. It includes Quenya and Sindarin, which is silly because they are man made languages. They were both invented for Lord of The Rings (the books and not the movies). J.R.R. Tolkien was quite a linguist. I'm leaning toward Basque or Finnish. The Finnish part should be fairly obvious choice for me.

For those of you who were totally lost on that last sentence, I will explain. We had a baby in 2003 that didn't live. Well, he lived, but only for 5 days. We called him Paul Teemu Allen. The Teemu caused quite a stir. Teemu is a Finnish name. Here's where I got it. Yup. An ice hockey player. But... I hear you sigh with great relief... "At least the first name was Paul!" Yes it was. Paul Kariya and Teemu Selänne were the one-two duo for the Anaheim Ducks (my team). The year Teemu was born, the Ducks went to the Stanley Cup Finals but didn't win. Neither did Teemu. I miss the little guy to this day. Luckily we have two other great children.

Tonight is the IBS dinner. They don't have babysitters this year so Angie is bringing over her kids to play with Patrick and Nellie.

On further research, I'm not too sure about Finnish. Apparently there are 2,253 variations of the word for "shop". If you are interested, they are listed here. More research will be required.

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signs

My life is full of "signs". This morning I was singing the Christmas song "O Come O Come Emmanuel" to Nellie and she loved the song. So I went out to youtube to try to find one. I found the first one and it's by Enya.

So what's the sign? The language in the 2nd half of the song is Irish! Then I found this one

Miranda just groaned.

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funny.

Jane (my MIL) would have been embarrassed to be with me last night. Even Miranda commented on my style (or lack thereof). Since I work from home, I basically throw on whatever hits me that day. Yesterday morning I put on my Canada hat (similar to this hat) that I got when we were at Niagara Falls. I also had on some really bad tennis shoes that are just wore out but I don't want to get rid of. So Miranda said that we needed to go to Wal-Mart to get some stuff. Since it was a bit chilly out, I put on my Marseille jacket. But I wasn't going to change clothes just to go to Wal-Mart! I did get some stares though. Luckily there was a teenage boy wearing a tiara (I didn't ask and didn't want to know) so I wasn't the only odd one there.

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interesting.

Interesting article here on Dave Ramsey. He's some kind of "Budget Guru" and his method is elimination of debt and paying for everything by cash. The last idea is interesting but seems to be a bit of a bother. Not sure I'd like that. If something happens and you lost the money, well you'd be up the creek. We have banks for a reason.

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another meeting.

Miranda has meetings every night this week. Tonight is yet another one. Unfortunately these meetings are typically late and put a stop on all other plans. I'm already ready for the weekend.

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incredible

They now have a bombproof wallpaper! Don't believe me? Watch this video. I wonder how much it costs?

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random thoughts

I'm having soccer withdrawals. No games until later this month.

This Friday night is Fall Banquet (I think that is what it is called) at IBS. So that means my suit has to come out of hiding. Miranda is wanting to buy a new dress.

Congrats to Miranda for losing another pound. She's dropping weight like crazy and I'm proud of her.

I did get some French time in last night but no Irish. I was explaining every screen to Patrick. He was working with me so we had to move a bit slower.

I've become hooked on an Internet game called Urban Rivals. I must have an "addictive" personality. I get hooked on stuff easy.

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week

We thought it was going to be a quiet week. We were also wrong. Turns out that it's going to be fairly crazy.

Hopefully tonight I can work on my French some more. Maybe some Irish too. Since I won't be able to get Miranda into language, I've kinda decided to not stress just one. No point in it since I won't be anywhere that I can speak with others that are fluent.

Today was a Monday. Yuck. Plus it appears that the weather is changing. I guess it was bound to but I miss summer. Christmas is a month and some change! Excited to get that here.

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weekend.

Pretty good weekend overall but there were a few down points. Eating out was awful. The food was alright but service was terrible.

I felt sorry for Paul and Jane (or as we called it, the Crip and Stagger show). Just kidding. We didn't call it that. At least not out loud! Jane is still on her crutch and Paul's back is still giving him fits. They seemed to enjoy it and Patrick and Nellie loved spending time with Papa and Grandma.

Miranda bought her Christmas present. It's a Brighton handbag and she loves it! This is the one that she bought.

We bought some other Christmas stuff as well.

We stopped by and saw Rod and Emily on the way home. It was nice visiting them.

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today!

Today is going to be a wonderful day.

• It's Friday
• We are taking our short vacation to Branson with the in-laws
• I bought donuts this morning
• The price of the donuts and pop was $7.77.

The last one was a sign from Fate.

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nostrils.

I know everyone is on pins and needles to hear about my nostrils so here goes. I was talking to a guy at work and he said that he went to an allergist for 10 years or so and it didn't help much. So he went to an ENT (ear/nose/throat) specialist and had surgery. They basically shaved a bit of the bone in his nostril and then removed two glands. They cut on him but he said that another guy I know had the same procedure done with lasers and it was a lot better. He said that he can breathe out of both nostrils 90% of the time.

Anyway... I'm going to try the allergist for a bit but I think I may push for the surgery.

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French

Miranda has been getting a little ticked at me lately. Too much time studying French and not enough time with the family. Guess I'm going to have to cut back some. This weekend will be a good start as there will be no computer time for the nuclearcowboy.

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toys.

I've been pondering these slick new cell phones lately. I really want one bad but my problem is that I'm not sure that I would even use them. I basically only use my current cell phone for it's calendar function (it reminds me when I have stuff to do). I rarely make calls from it but I do receive call occasionally. I don't want to spend the extra $30 or so a month on the internet and it appears that is what they are for. I don't text (in fact I didn't even know I had texting until a few weeks ago). So I don't know. My contract will be up in another 6 months or so, so I have some time to think about it.

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books

I have a couple of new books that I want to get and read (obviously). I have $50 saved up and I'm trying to decide whether to blow it on these books or save up for this computer. The books look really interesting and I'm leaning toward that. They are here and here. Decisions decisions...

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funny

Here's a picture of the first transistor ever made. Quite possibly the greatest invention of all time.

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back home.

It was a typical Monday yesterday but it eventually got better.

Last night when I was driving home, I received a call from Miranda. She told me that she has to learn French. Apparently the children were sitting in the back while she was driving around town, chattering in French. They were saying phrases that I've taught them.

Friday I'm taking 1/2 day off of work to go to Branson with the in-laws. I'm looking forward to having a short vacation.

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work

I'm going in to Monett tomorrow so blogging will be non-existent.

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interesting.

Read this.

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groan.

We were at the in-laws and I missed the OM game. According to reports, it is billed as The Game Of The Century. A 5-5 thriller of a game. Just my luck.

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weekend so far.

Been a pretty good weekend so far. The zoo was a pretty big disappointment. The polar bear has died, the sea lions exhibit is down for restructuring, the lowlands building was down. Patrick and Nellie seemed to enjoy it though. They wanted to see the giraffe. I have no idea what possessed them to be so excited about the giraffes but there you have it.

Today we are going over to Paul and Jane's to eat lunch. Angie is giving us a bed for Nellie. Nellie is still in her toddler bed and Angie is getting rid of a full size bed. So we are going to adjust the children's room to make room for a full size bed. I'll be soooo glad when our house sells so that the children can each have their own room. The house here is 3 bedroom but I have to have an office. So it's really only a two bedroom and the children are in the same room.

Nellie has Patrick's cowboy hat on and is walking around saying "I'm a cowboygirl".

We went to Cheesecake Factory yesterday for lunch. It was too expensive and they pack you in like sardines. Cheesecake was good though. I had a Kobe beef burger but it wasn't that good.

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ha.

I missed it but that last post was post #666. If I'd seen that, I would have blogged about the anti-Christ (Obama? just kidding!).

Tonight we went to Eggberts and had breakfast for supper (all of us except Miranda. She had a salad). It was yummy. Afterwards we went to Blockbuster and rented the children some movies. Miranda also rented a chick flick.

I think I will study tonight.

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weekend.

The weekend is almost upon us. Pretty quiet weekend so far. We were going out to eat with Mom and Dad in Tulsa but they are in revival. So we are taking a rain check on that.

It's supposed to be a beautiful day so we may go to the Tulsa Zoo during the day tomorrow.

Sunday we may be going to the in-laws for lunch.

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interesting

Interesting cartoon about capitalism vs communism. It's not boring!

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funny

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jacket.

I got my jacket today! Fed-ex is a lot better than the U.S. Postal Service. That probably goes without saying though. Just wait until the gov't gets ahold of health care. Sheesh!

Anyway... the jacket is nice but a bit backwards. The zipper is on the left side. I thought that I had accidentally ordered the womens jacket but nope. It's supposed to be on the left side (at least the web site showed it under the mens department anyway).

Christmas has come early for the nuclearcowboy.

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children.

Took the children to Braums last night for ice cream. I had a rocky road cone, Miranda had a mint chocolate chip shake, and the kids had frozen yogurt (easier to eat than Braums tough ice cream). While we were sitting there, Nellie asked me a question. I can't remember what it was but she started out by saying, "Honey, ...". Miranda asked, "Did she just call you Honey?". Pretty funny.

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today.

John Wade stopped by today and chatted. It was nice to see him again.

I have got to learn some Vietnamese. I went to the barber and now there is a girl in there that also speaks Vietnamese (plus the guy also).

Marseille won today. 6-1. It was a thumpin'. They are playing in the Champions League. Juventus also won.

Tonight should be a quiet night around here.

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tonight

Tonight is haircut night. Patrick hates getting his haircut. I'm not a huge fan of it myself but I don't want to take care of long hair.

Yesterday was a bad day at the "office". Hopefully today will be much better.

I ordered my Christmas jacket the other day. It's made it to Newark, NJ and they claim that it will be here in 3-10 working days. I'm guessing that is not the case as they probably aren't counting customs. Been there, done that.

My French electronic dictionary passed on to silicon heaven. I have since brought out the "goldie oldie" book. It's tough to beat the book form. I just don't see electronic books taking off. Too dependent on electricity and not good in long term storage. How many electronic books do you see being around in 50-60 years? I forsee 0.

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Economics

Economists apparently aren't that well known. I got the last two but didn't realize that Adam Smith was a Scot so I didn't answer that one.

I love the look on the ladies face when she gets the Milton Friedman question.

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music

Miranda found Tulsa 106.1 on the radio. It's Christmas all the time. So we've listened to Christmas music every time we are in the car. I'm ready for Christmas!

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for dad.

Would you all be interested in getting together next Saturday and eating out in Tulsa?

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Halloween

Patrick and Nellie had a ball last night going Trick-or-Treating. Miranda took them and they got to see Grandma, Grandpa, Bud, Angie (et. al.). Aaron and Lindsay were down as well.

I enjoyed my evening. Spent a quiet evening here.

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