interesting.

I find this very intriguing. How can such a useless machine be interesting?

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New Year

The New Year is almost here. It's time for New Years resolutions. I think mine will be to try to stop biting my fingernails. That drives Miranda nuts. She hates it with a passion.

Today we are meeting Mom and Dad in Bartlesville and eating out with them. Patrick and I have got to get haircuts sometime this week also.

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happiness

Science magazine did an article about the states with the happiest people. You can find it here. Kansas ranked #32. Do you know what state ranked #1? Louisiana! That's right! Miranda? The ball is in your court.

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snow.

Apparently it snowed again. I'm not sure if we will be able to get out of the drive. We barely made it before. Our plans today were to go to Coffeyville and eat BBQ (at the only BBQ place within 30 miles) and go to a furniture store. Tonight it church.

Now I'm not sure if we will do any of it. Our driveway is on a slope and if it's just a little slick, our Expedition will not make it up. Such is life.

Miranda found a weight watchers recipe for Christmas pudding so I'm excited about trying that. We will have to buy a steamer though.

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vacation.

So my vacation is in full swing and we stayed in today. It was a nice day. Miranda watched "Gone with the Wind" and I got in on the last 1/2 or so. Sad and depressing movie. I played my game most of the day. My money from Christmas finally made it into the account.

I wonder if this guy ever got a ride? Talk about an unfortunate tool to be carrying with you when you are hitchhiking.

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Christmas is over!

Finally back home and settled in. I have the week off as well.

I'm already tired of snow and ice. Lafayette is looking mighty nice. Mighty mighty nice.

Before long I will be going to Vinita on Saturdays. Although I probably won't be going when the weather gets bad and it appears that it may be most of the winter.

Patrick is in there watching Dora the Explorer and learning Spanish. So I got onto him (just teasing him). He just grins at me. I really need to get him into Caillou (quite a few of them are broadcast in French), but Nellie is the Dora the Explorer fan so Patrick just watches whatever she is watching. He likes Caillou but not as much as Nellie likes Dora.

I need to do children's programming on TV. Jacques the Adventurer would be the character. He would travel around the globe teaching children to dislike Italian food. He would also teach children to not play Mafia Wars on facebook so that they wouldn't overload their friends with endless status messages about how something "exciting" happened that they didn't take part in.

That is all.

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Finally back home.

What a Christmas. It was sleeting here on Thursday so we poked down to Vinita. Spent the night and got up the next morning and headed for Scammon. Almost ended up in the ditch twice. Ended up having to spend in the night in Scammon and started for home this morning. We were stuck in Paul and Jane's driveway but managed to get out finally.

Overall it was a nice Christmas but the snow/ice stressed me out. I really want to move to Lafayette.

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week.

This week is dragging by. Patrick will not stop bugging us about opening presents.

Tonight we are opening presents. Patrick's DS is charged and ready.

Both children are being very good here at home. I'm really amazed.

After Christmas, I'm spending a bit on myself. Miranda has offered since her present was a bit more costly than mine. So I'm buying this remote controlled sailboat. I figure that will be something that will get me out of the house.

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Christmas party

Here's my Christmas party (for all self-employed and "work at home" people).

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today.

Today we have to get Patrick's Christmas present out and charge it up. We've got him a Nintendo DS. As soon as it's opened, it better be playable (or heads will roll).

Tomorrow night is our Christmas with the children. I have to work Thursday but after work we are headed for Vinita. Christmas with my family on Friday, then Christmas with her family Friday evening.

The next week I have off of work. Unfortunately it's unpaid but I'll take it!

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holiday

Christmas programs are over. Onto the rest of the holiday season. I guess I'm ready for Christmas to be over. I'm tired of the rush-rush of the season and ready to kick back.

Miranda, Patrick, and Nellie are all off school now. So say a prayer for me.

Patrick got sick at church yesterday and started running a fever. However he still wanted to go see Papa and Grandma Young. We were planning on going to the Scammon Christmas program but I didn't want to take him. He was feeling fine but I didn't want to expose others. So we went home early.

I work through Thursday of this week and I have next week off.

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today.

Crazy busy today. We have church Christmas program practice this morning. After that, we are off to Joplin to (hopefully) finish up our Christmas shopping.

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what a day.

I had to go to Monett today. It was a bad day.

I threw my back out. I got a call from Angie Doyle and Nellie hurt her arm (again!). She's such a drama queen. There isn't anything wrong with her arm but she refuses to use it. I had a sore throat all night last night from sinus drainage. I don't even want to see what tomorrow brings.

I wanted to send out Christmas cards this year but we didn't get around to it (Miranda wasn't real hip on the idea). Thanks to everyone who sent us one. To everyone I wish a Joyeaux Noël (of course).

Read a funny story today (in a sick way). A 4 year old boy stole his neighbors Christmas presents. Not funny so far right? He was drunk and wearing a little girls dress. Kudos to those parents! Way to raise a child. Cross-dressing, alcoholic, thieving, 4 year old. Makes me feel better about how I'm raising my child.

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wow!

Here's a video of insurgents firing at U.S. troops. Unfortunately 2 AH-64 Apache helicopters were in the area.

This probably makes me a bad person, but I want that job. It's a combination of video games and huge guns.

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tonight

Tonight is the faculty Christmas party here at IBS. Not sure of all the details.

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funny

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next car.

Looks like our next car is going to be a 2010 Toyota Prius. Apparently it now uses a "Lane Assist System" that detects the lane markers and automatically steers the car toward the center of the lane.

With as much as we drive, the more autopilot we can have, the overall safer we will be.

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today.

So we had church today and then Christmas program practice. Albert and Della invited us to eat with them. It was very nice of them and a very nice meal.

I had to lead the song service this morning, so I picked the one song with a foreign language, "Angels We Have Heard On High" (Gloria in Excelsis Deo). Unfortunately that song really isn't meant for humans to sing. Much too high.

After Christmas program practice, I sat down with a chord sheet and was working on "What Child Is This?" I spent about 5-10 minutes. Sorta got it figured out but then I had to play it as an instrumental. Apparently it was the night for our instrumental, the bass player was missing, and we hadn't picked a song. I thought it was a disaster but Miranda said it was beautiful. She's the one that matters in my life, so it turned out all right for me. I don't mean that to sound bad either. The rest of the people in the church are very nice and great people. But they don't rank up there with Miranda.

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today

Today has been very nice so far. Miranda and I taught Patrick to play "Go Fish!". We've been playing that for quite a bit of the morning. I've got a few Urban Rivals games in (I'm addicted - the first step is admitting).

Getting ready to watch Marseille play Bordeaux. They are going to get it handed it them (Marseille will... Bordeaux are very good).

Tonight we are going over to the in-laws. Happy Birthday Jane. Birthdays haven't been a big thing in the Allen family but they are big in the Young family.

Miranda is making pizza. Unfortunately it the wheat crust diet pizza. Very similar to cardboard except that it tastes worse. But what can you say... it's Italian food.

Patrick and I have been battling it out. Here's our conversation:

• P: Uno, dos, tres (1,2,3 in Spanish)
• M: Quoi!?!? (what?) Parlez-vous le français! Ne parle pas le espagnol (Speak French! Don't speak Spanish!)
• P: Un, deux, trois (1,2,3 in French)
• M: Oui! D'accord! (Yes! Ok!)
• P: Uno, dos, tres

Repeat ad infinitum! He loves to tease me, and of course, I go overboard.

Speaking of French. I emailed the local French teacher and last semester they had 1 student in French and they had to cancel the class. She thought I was trying to fulfill the foreign language requirement for my degree and suggested I take Spanish. I have a few degrees already and I do not need another one right now.

Better go. The game is one.

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weekend.

Weekend finally made it. Tonight is the IBS thingy. Tomorrow night is Jane's birthday party. Sunday is church.

It's almost tax time. This next tax year, I'm going to go to Vinita every (most?) Saturdays during the tax season to work with Mom. She is looking to retire in a few years and a decision is going to have to be made. Although I suspect she won't retire for a long time because she isn't one to just sit around and hang out.

Christmas shopping is almost done. Just a few more gifts to buy.

Better go. Miranda is having a tough morning and I'm going to help out with the small people that live in our house.

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today.

Quiet night planned tonight. We have absolutely nothing going on. Suits me just fine. I think we will eat supper and then watch "A Christmas Story".

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woohoo!

You will be happy to know that I've picked up a new heater. I about froze today.

A friend sent me this video that I have to share. It's hilarious.

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birthday.

This weekend is my MIL's birthday. I think we are doing something but not sure what yet. She turns 29 or so.

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another one down.

Nellie's Christmas program was last night. Just two more things this week. Church tonight and the IBS Christmas program on Friday. Luckily the IBS program will only be about 30 minutes or so and is a short walk across our lawn.

Both Juventus and Marseille are eliminated from the Champions League. Juve crashed out in spectacular fashion by losing 4-1. I didn't watch either game. OU is terrible this year. Luckily my Saints are still rolling along. They're the only good team I have this year.

We should have got Nellie this for Christmas. Unfortunately I think it would be larger than Miranda's kitchen.

My space heater went out in my office. I have a small space heater because it's fairly drafty in here. Looks like I'm going to have to buy another.

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Christmas

So this year at Christmas time, I want to get with my Mom and Dad and try to figure out as much of my family tree as possible. My mom's side appears to be the easiest. My dad's side is apparently quite a bit like a police lineup. I'm talking about earlier generations and not the recent.

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one down.

One program down. Two more to go this week.

For my parents... You are welcome to come up but don't feel obligated. Long drive for watching your grandchild for 5 minutes.

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week.

This week is crazy. Tonight is Patrick's Christmas program at school. Tomorrow night is Nellie's Christmas program. Wednesday night is church. Friday night is the High School Christmas program. Needless to say, we have to make each one of them. Thursday is going to be our night off.

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funny.

What genius came up with this product? I love the product reviews at the bottom of the page.

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yesterday.

Had fun yesterday but it was hectic. Wichita Toys R Us was insane. However we got most of our Christmas shopping done.

Now the bad news... We were at Barnes and Nobel and they have 2 series. Teach Yourself Swedish and Teach Yourself Norwegian. Miranda wouldn't let me buy either of them. Boy you marry a person, never realizing how bad they will treat you in the future!

For the Allen Christmas, we had to buy a Male a present. So I picked up one. They will definitely know it's from me. I won't tell now but it's a corker.

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tonight.

We watched "A Christmas Carol" tonight. What a powerful story.

Tomorrow we are off to Wichita. Finish up Christmas shopping and going to Aaron's birthday party. Going to be a crazy weekend.

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Brrr...

Last night was cold at the parade. It was decent (not too many floats) but pretty cold.

We went to look at a house last night. No go. It's a cute house but it was 1.5 baths (we almost have to have 2) and one of the children's room was tiny. But it was a cute house. Onward the search goes.

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family.

Last night we weren't feeling well. Miranda is sick as well. So we sat at home. I recuperated nicely and am feeling well.

Tonight we are going to the Parsons Christmas Parade. We are taking a student from the dorm (she lives in Parsons).

Also tonight, we are looking at a house. We are meeting the realtor at 4:00. Doubtful that we buy but we want to look at it. If it looks like something that would work, we may put a contract on the house pending the sale of our house. Not sure though.

I've been so wrapped up in Urban Rivals lately that my French studies have fallen off.

This weekend, we are going to Aaron's birthday party in Wichita. I'm not sure of his age. Probably won't stay too late since we won't be spending the night up there.

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last night.

Spent most of the night being sick. My stomach decided to "make like Lincoln and invade the South".

So I'm pumped to be sitting here all day. Yay.

Seems kinda pointless to take a sick day since I'm already at home.

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day.

Long day at work. One of those days.

Nellie is going around telling Stubby... "STOP! SHUT UP!" He's barking at something. So now Nellie is getting in trouble for telling him to shut up. It's a circus.

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