Ubster?

First Marathon

2011-10-20T15:04:00.003-05:00

Alcoholic Vervet Monkeys!

2009-09-25T14:56:00.003-05:00

This is great! I want to party with these guys!

Fred on the economy

2008-12-27T11:10:00.003-05:00

Second Revolution, Thanks Gump

2008-12-13T16:06:00.005-05:00

I have neglected my blog and others over the last few months, eight months to be exact. I was getting caught up and came across this video on Pvt. Gump’s site. I liked it so much, I’m stealing it. Thanks Gump!

Looks like Bacon, smells like bacon, it's bacon!

2008-03-17T20:03:00.011-05:00

Several years ago I gave up potato chips for Lent (I lost 10 lbs that year). I've kept this up and added to it. For the last two years during Lent I've given up potato chips, french fries and bacon. I know... why live? It's tough, especially during the last week, this week. While catching up on blogs I read a great story on bacon from justrun titled "Bacon is evil" where this video was mentioned in a comment.

glumbert - Jim Gaffigan loves bacon

Easter Sunday I'm going to have a BLT, Fries and potato chips! Can't wait!

Substitute

2008-02-25T13:44:00.006-05:00

A few weeks ago my sister asked me to be a substitute for Dan, my brother-in-law, in the annual St. Paul’s Father/Son basketball game. When I accepted this invite I didn’t know that it would be the Dad’s against the kids. I haven’t played Basket Ball in years and to be honest I was a bit nervous. These kids looked tough!

I ended up having a great time. Ben, my nephew, had some great shots. The Dad’s ended up winning and I sustained the only injury. I dislocated my pinky going after a loose ball. I felt it pop out and I had to tug and pull to get it back in. I’ll play next year, but I think I’ll wrap my finger up first.

Below is picture I took about three days after the game.

California?

2008-01-14T10:34:00.000-05:00

"What you need to do is continuously stoke your metabolism"

"Stoke? When did you move to California?"

BMW Tool Kit

2007-12-17T13:09:00.000-05:00

Did you know that the pliers in the BMW tool kit work great for cracking almonds?

Bad Photoshop!

2007-11-20T13:37:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday!

2007-11-20T11:37:00.000-05:00

Happy birthday to my brother-in-law Mark, below, with his wife Jamey.

Health Food?

2007-11-06T08:19:00.001-05:00

I was thinking about getting an apple for breakfast today, or possibly driving to the health food store and getting some lo-cal snack. Then someone whispered, "Alan brought in doughnuts, better get one as they are going fast!"

I'll have that apple tomorrow!

Hometown Heroes

2007-10-22T13:47:00.000-05:00

During the weekend long celebration of my birthday I went to see the Detroit Lions kick some Tampa Bay Buccaneer ass. During a TV timeout in the third quarter they brought several military personal to the end zone to honor them as Hometown Heroes. This was really cool. Then they pushed a man out in a wheelchair that was missing both legs. They announced that Sgt. Philip LaBonte would receive the Purple Heart. LaBonte, who lost his legs and an eye while fighting in Iraq, is a huge Lions Fan. His prosthetic eye has a Lions insignia on it. It was a very touching moment to see a hero receive such a prestigious award like that. I am proud to have witnessed it. Reminds you that the battle on the field isn’t important at all, the real battle is being fought by heroes like this one. What really bothers me is that it wasn’t seen on TV. It should have been.

Thank you Sgt. LaBonte.

Pepper

2007-10-18T10:01:00.000-05:00

I like to use pepper on just about everything I eat, especially fries, mmm! One thing that bothers me to no end is when restaurants fill pepper shakers to the top. I know that they just want to make sure they aren't ever empty but when they top 'em off every night they make it impossible to use because it won't shake out. ARG!

Arrr, shiver me timbers

2007-09-19T06:39:00.000-05:00

Avast, me hearties!

I feel it's my duty, because I have a Pirate in the family, to remind all that today in International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Please feel free to use any and all Pirate lingo.

Examples can be found here.

Enjoy.

Ye Humble Servant,

Red Jack Cash

The 50 Worst Cars of All Time

2007-09-18T09:04:00.000-05:00

A list of the 50 worst cars of all time compliled by Time and CNN starts off with a 1899 Horsey Horseless and ends with the Chevy SSR.

I'm proud to say that my first car was number 26, a Racing Green TR7. I spent more time working on it than driving it. Part of me wishes I kept it. Actually I wish I kept all of my old cars, well except the Encore that was handed down to me from my sister.

I'm also proud to say that I not only know an engineer that worked on #24 & #34, but I'm working with him now! I've also blogged about him. Okay, I also know and am currently working with the Chief Engineer of the Chevy SSR. It means nothing!

Race Day

2007-09-17T04:21:00.000-05:00

I opened my eyes and looked at the clock, 5:45 AM. I smile, I didn’t sleep in. I turn on the news to see the latest weather report, frost warning through 8 AM. Frost, 8 AM? That’s when the race starts! It’s gonna be cold! I think they said 47 degrees by 8 o’clock. It felt like 20! I began my normal morning ritual of getting coffee for Melissa & me, milk for the kids and taking a shower. We all had to be out the door by 7:15. Not as easy as it sounds with a 3 & 4 year old. We made it in time to stop off at the Stauch’s to borrow their jogging stroller (thanks Stauch’s). Off to the Zoo! As we are driving again I'm thinking, what have I done? We made it there with about 25 minutes to spare. We got Melissa another coffee and headed to the starting line. I put on my headphones, took off my sweatshirt and my warm up pants. Standing in shorts and a long sleeve shirt under my first race tee shirt, I was cool! After hearing some last minute instructions the horn sounded and we were off. All 749 runners (Females: 434 / Males: 315), chaos. Some people were blazing by like I was standing still! I kept a comfortable pace and occasionally passed some people. I really focused on a steady pace and was pretty happy at the first mile marker to see I was at 9:14 pace (according to my watch). A good pace for me on this cold Sunday morning, I kept my focus and was feeling pretty good. The pains of the first mile were behind me, the pains of the next two in front. The second mile clicked by and my pace slowed a bit to 9:32. I was feeling pretty good, even though many people began to kick it into gear and pass me. I was beginning to feel like a looser when I was passed by a young girl maybe 9 years old! A few minutes into mile 3 I picked up my pace again. Somewhere along Woodward, in the second half of mile 3 the Rocky theme song comes on the headphones. Perfect, I thought, it seemed to help me. Mile marker 3, 9:17 pace. I can hear the crowd cheering now, I feel really good. I start sprinting & passing people left and right. Finishing with a clock time of 28:38 and a chip time of 28:23. Both well below my last 5K of 30:45. I’m happy! Overall I finished 288 th, and 28th in my class (males 35 – 39). When did I get so old?

One thing I really need to work on is grabbing water and drinking it as I’m running. Maybe at the next race…

After the race we heading into the Zoo for the walk, which Melissa had entered. I ended up doing the walk with her and the kids, a perfect cool down. After the walk we all headed for the post party tent and had hots dogs, chips and in my case, more chips!

5K update

2007-09-13T11:48:00.000-05:00

Many of my readers have been requesting an update on my “training’ (okay, one reader). To tell you the truth I haven’t been running as often or as far as I should be but my times are getting better and I’m able to run longer without stopping. I ran 4 miles on Tuesday as a storm rolled in so it was pretty windy, and then it rained a bit before I finished. Finished is the key word, I ran all 4 miles in the wind and rain without stopping. My goal in this run is to beat my last 5k time of 30:45, which was 7 years ago. Here is my average pace per mile for the last few times I’ve run. I’m on the right path to beat my last 5k.

3.1 miles 9:30
1.3 miles 9:12
3 miles 9:30
4 miles 9:44

**************************************
UPDATE 9/14 8:45am

Ran 2 miles last night at a pace of 8:47

I'm throwing out my cell phone

2007-09-06T13:49:00.000-05:00

I went to lunch today with an ex co-worker / friend who often tells tales of conspiracies. Since I hadn’t talked to him in a while I asked what was new in the world of conspiracies, he responded in a manner which he often does, how Bush is a puppet and Cheney is a slave to the mysterious group of powerful men that run the world. I later mentioned that I was thinking of getting an iPhone now that they are $200 cheaper. He said he heard that they have a hidden function and they really do something for the government but he couldn’t remember. He also mentioned that cell phones are being used to spy on citizens even when they are turned off. He said that the mic could be activated even when the phone was turned off and it could be used to pick up conversations in the room. The only way to avoid it would be to remove the battery. I called bullshit and he said to search Google video because there was an clip from Fox news.

The video and links below are my result.

FBI taps cell phone mic as eavesdropping tool
Use of mobile helped police keep tabs on suspect and brother

So now I’m wondering a few things.
1) is he right about the other conspiracies
2) what is this “function” the iPhone does for the feds
3) what is going on in area 51

Oh yeah, if you call my cell and get my voice mail it’s because I’ve pulled my battery, I didn't throw if out. Yet.

What have I done?

2007-08-23T08:06:00.000-05:00

I did it. I signed up for the LaSalle Bank Run Wild for the Detroit Zoo 5K Run. After reading Josh's blogs on running, and remembering when I used to run (I was all city in high school track and captain of the track team, okay that was almost 20 years ago. Call me Al Bundy). Instead of talking about it I'm doing it. The run is on September 16th which gives me about 3 weeks to get in shape. The last time I ran in any competition was in 2000 and before that 1990. It was a spur of the moment thing, while racing sailboats in Key West the boat team decided to run this race. I went to a local sporting goods store, purchased running shoes and went to the starting line. Our boat, Wild Thang, finshed 10th. Overall I finished 101 out of 132 with a time of 30:45. I'm a bit heavier & older now so my goal is to not die during this run.

What have I done?

Time Remaining

SPAM or a sign?

2007-08-13T08:30:00.000-05:00

I just received 13 emails, all with the same date & time stamp, all from various usernames at aogheliservices.com, all with a randomly named PDF file containing a stock tip. Looking at the full message headers they appear to be sent from random IP's from around the world & random email programs. Sounds like a standard spamming program that spoofs everything.

My email account is using a third party spam filtering service, Emerald Spam Shield, and then sent through another open relay list and spam filter on the mail server.

Why am I getting these?

I know. I should buy the stock, that's it. The sign I was looking for.

Cricket

2007-08-06T10:03:00.000-05:00

For the last few weeks I've had the pleasure of working with a gentleman from CA who is in town consulting on our current project. He was staying at a hotel on I-696 and Dequindre in Madison Heights (he said it was cheap). One day he looked tired and told me a tale of a cricket that kept him up all night long. Several days later he says,

"You remember that cricket I told you about?"

"Yeah"

"I found it, it was under the bed stand table. I pulled the table back and there it was. The biggest cricket I've ever seen."

"Did you kill it?"

"Once I saw him I didn't know what to do, so I reached in the drawer and grabbed the first thing I saw..." (pause)

"No, you didn't"

"I did, I smashed him to bits with Gideons Bible"

"You know you are going straight to hell"

"I know"

BSOD

2007-08-03T12:43:00.000-05:00

Many of you may have noticed I've added a "Days Since BSOD" to the side bar of my blog. While I didn't have a true BSOD, it was bad enough. My Acer TravelMate 4400 died. I was working away when it went ker-plunk. Blank screen. The hard drive lights were still on and the drive was spinning. I looked closer and noticed that screen wasn't blank, if I got real close I could see what looked like images burned into the pixels of an old monitor. I was able to move my mouse. I went to unplug it and take it to the window to see more. That was all she wrote. It died at that very moment. Never to boot again.

I ran to the local MicroCenter and purchased a new laptop. I got one of the cheaper models since my experience has been they last about two years no matter what you pay for them. I purchased a Toshiba Satellite A215-S4697 with Windows Vista. This is my first real run with Vista. Once I figured out where they hid everything I was up in running. Took the hard drive out of the old laptop and put it in a USB enclosure and in a few hours I was up and running again.

While this isn't a true BSOD, it is the beginning of my counter.

Overheard at the Office

2007-07-23T13:00:00.000-05:00

It's so easy, even a "Cabe-Man" could do it.

Should I be offended?

Adoption

2007-07-10T14:17:00.000-05:00

I drove my friend's Chris & Melissa to the airport this afternoon. They are going to fly to China meet their son Oscar, who they are adopting, for the first time. They are also going to spend some time traveling in China.
It was pretty exciting to see the new parents off on their journey. They have a blog that they are going to update on their 2 1/2 week trip. Check it out.

http://myadoptionwebsite.com/oscar/index.html

You have to be kidding me...

2007-06-29T09:28:00.000-05:00

I received a Certificate Rider from my HR rep today that states the following:

**************************************************************************************
The following Subrogation and Right of Reimbursement section has been added to the General Information About Your Coverage section of your Booklet-Certificate:

Subrogation and Right of Reimbursement
If this Plan pays benefits under this Booklet-Certificate to a covered person for expenses incurred due to third party injuries, the Aetna retains the right to repayment of the full cost of all benefits provided by this Plan on behalf of the covered person that are associated with the third party injuries. Aetna's rights of recovery apply to any recoveries made by or on behalf of the covered person from the following sources, including but not limited to:

payments made by a third party or any insurance company on behalf of the third party;
any payments or awards under an uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage policy;
any Workers' Compensation or disability award settlement
medical payments coverage under any automobile policy, premises or homeowners' medical payments coverage or premises or homeowners' insurance coverage; and
any other payments from a source intended to compensates a covered person for injuries resulting from an accident or alleged negligence.

By accepting benefits under this plan......

**************************************************************************************
How I read this?

I get hit by a car, trip and fall, have a piano fall on me, dog bite,... and need medical care my insurance company will cover those expenses. Great!

Here is what I don't like. I'm maimed, traumatized, scarred, and gimped for the remainder of my life. I can't work, walk, whatever.

I sue. It is the American way. I sue the driver, his insurance company, the landlord, his insurance company, the piano movers, his insurance company, the dog, his owner, his insurance company (you get the point).

I win a settlement, someone offers to pay me for my trouble, and or I'm on Workers Comp.

Aetna will sue for that money up to the amount it cost to patch me up.

I need $50,000.00 in medical care & Aetna pays. This is how insurance works. This is what the premiums have been going into an interest bearing account for. But they have gotten greedy and want to be reimbursed for this.

Example
I'm awarded $50,000.00 from the courts. I pay my lawyer the typical 30% or $15,000.00, then Aetna takes the remaining $35,000.00. This leaves me with nothing. According to the Rider, Aetna can also take my Workers Compensation for the remaining $15,000.00

This leaves me maimed, traumatized, scarred, gimped and broke.

Aetna, I'm glad I met ya!

Overheard at the office

2007-06-21T13:58:00.000-05:00

We are doing a good enough half-assed job to where it doesn't really matter.

Immigration Gumballs

2007-06-11T10:45:00.000-05:00

WiTricity

2007-06-08T15:08:00.000-05:00

This is just cool.

Wireless Electricity!

All we need now is to adopt this technology into cars and highways.

Tech Flops

2007-05-17T16:03:00.000-05:00

Read this article today on Computer World, it's from last month but fun.

******************************************************************************
Don't Believe the Hype: The 21 Biggest Technology Flops
We fondly recall 21 overpromoted products and technologies that utterly failed to live up to their hype -- and we give you a chance to choose the biggest flop of all.
******************************************************************************

My vote goes to Beenz

Only in Michigan...

2007-03-14T16:13:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a beautiful, sunny 73° day. My wife took the kids to the Zoo. Tonight we are expecting 1 -2" of snow. If we do get snow (you know how much you can trust the weatherman) I'll take the boys to the park and have a snowball fight with them!

Only in Michigan.

Big Yellow Cab

2007-03-05T20:44:00.000-05:00

Even the darkness feels hungry as I wait. The perfect cab appears, like the surprise visit of an old friend. As I slide in, the rich leather seats feel worn and warm with the faint scent of a cigar lingering from some previous fare. Headlights glint blackberry red off wet pavement as we pull away from the curb.

"Where to?" asks the smooth, rich voice of the cabby.
"Yes, where to?" I wonder

My head tips back against the seat, as if I am coaxing that last lingering sip from the bottom of the glass.
I yearn for something familiar, like my family's savory meatloaf. Or maybe the tangy, dried cherry and earthy spice of my favorite Moroccan restaraunt. The hiss of the cab's wheels suddenly calls to mind the sizzle of juicy T-Bone hitting a hot mesquite grill.

Traveling through all the best of my senses, I smile, ready for a soft, smooth ride. This Big Yellow Cab is just what I'm looking for.

--

We had some friends over last weekend for wine and Claymania and they brought this bottle of wine. With a label like this I don't think I'm going to open it. I'll keep this one and get another to drink!

I'll let you know if it is any good.

Oh No! Not again!!!

2007-03-05T20:26:00.000-05:00

Back in August I blogged about an incident with my oldest son Aidan, who expressed himself with blue crayon on the carpet. Well yesterday Jake, the little one, decided he wanted a crack at it. Jake had the guts to do it right in front of me while I was changing his diaper.

Yes, this did come out with help from the Little Green Bissel

A video is worth a millions words

2007-02-28T12:30:00.000-05:00

I recently referred to this video to describe some actions at work.

Pistons

2007-02-13T15:27:00.000-05:00

A work function with the pistons

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Sailing

2007-02-07T12:23:00.000-05:00

While eating lunch (leftover peas and Mac N' Cheese from the boys) I was catching up on my brother Josh's blog. From his blog I went to Just Run's blog, I don't know her but had seen her comment on Josh's blog. She has an incredible opportunity to sail on a 65' Ketch for two weeks. This reminded me of the 15 + years that I raced on sailboats. Some of the best and worst times of my life were on sailboats. Port Huron to Mackinac, freezing my ass off for 4 days and nights saying I'd never do another one, I did 7. Key West Race Week, 10 days of sailing and drinking rum, riding mopeds and laughing at the weirdo's. In the summer of '89 I raced 63 times, the best summer of my life. One of my favorite things to do was to sit on the high side, face into the wind and think. A great way to put life into perspective, my advice to Just Run is DO IT.

I haven't been on a boat in at least 4 years, this must change, I feel the itch.

My "New" iPod

2007-01-23T15:19:00.000-05:00

About a year ago I was in New York working and visiting my brother and his wife. My brother, a Mac user, and a bit of an early adopter, was on his second iPod and offered me his old one. It was a 10 gig Gen 1, a classic! The only problem was that the battery life was about 30 - 45 minutes. My wife had wanted one for some time so I figured that she could use it. When I returned and presented the gift to her she thought it was great, till she charged it and took it to workout... kerplunk, kerplooey. It died!

I charged it and listened to music (compliments of my Bro, 4 gigs of songs) for about an hour while around the house. I decided that I would take it, I set it down in my home office and forgot about it because my PC didn't have a firewire card. Fast Forward to yesterday. I needed headphones for the office, I knew that there was a pair by that old iPod... I grabbed the iPod & headphones and headed for the office. I not sure what came over me but I was going to make this classic iPod work. A quick trip to Micro Center at lunch to pick up a Firewire card, only $9.99, for my PC and I was off. While the iPod was charging I began to download iTunes for my PC and home I went. This morning I installed iTunes and it immediately recognized the iPod and wanted to format it for my PC. No wait! I have to get the songs off first. A quick trip to Major Geeks and three failed attempts with freeware/shareware (YamiPod, iPod Rip, and Media Monkey) I found XPlay. XPlay allowed my Mac formatted iPod drive to be mounted by my PC. I then just used windows explorer to copy the music files to my hard drive. I also used it to print the playlists.

I then allowed iTunes to reformat and upgrade the iPod to the latest software. A few clicks later and I'm in business. The iPod is charged, all music is synchronized, I recreated the playlists that were on the iPod (hey, they were good). I know your saying, but you can only listen to it for 30 minutes... iPodbattery.com offers replacement batteries for $15.95.

Oh yeah, the headphones. The reason I needed them at the office is a co-worker wanted me to listen to a clip from "Coast to Coast", a show he listens to in the middle of the night when he can't sleep. This night was about UFO's.... wow

Keep Hope Alive

2007-01-08T16:52:00.000-05:00

Car and Truck of the Year for GM. With the doom and gloom here in Detroit it is nice to hear a little positive news every now and again.

http://sev.prnewswire.com/auto/20070107/NYSU03807012007-1.html

Addiction Part 2

2006-12-11T14:53:00.000-05:00

Many of my readers (all two of you) have noticed that I have not posted a blog in a long time. I blame both of you for this. Let's call you "Gosh" and "Dark". Gosh, you are the one who hooked me on SuDuko and Dark, you are the one who got me an electronic version that has 2 million puzzles. Talk about offering a alcoholic a drink, damn!

Addiction

2006-10-13T16:37:00.000-05:00

I've been running down the dangerous road of addiction. I'm the only one to blame. Sure it was my brother who first introduced me, but I take full responsibility. I mean, I didn't have to buy my own SuDuko book but I did. And to make things even worse I've purchased a Blackberry too. I take it off my belt buckle and look even when I know that there aren't any emails. I can't help it. I need a fix. Must look... right now...

Let's hope that these aren't the gateway drugs to bigger and better things... What could be bigger and better than SuDuko and Blackberry. I don't know but I'm scared, very scared.

Mark's Vacation - Day 3 (Continued)

2006-08-28T22:41:00.000-05:00

My Broter-in-law Mark was in town and a few weeks ago. Two things stand out in my mind about his trip.

1) Kart-2- Kart
All I can say is. Good driving. And I want a rematch. Las Vegas perhaps?

2) The long night with many stops. I have one question. What did you eat?

I know your thinking. Go ahead, say it.

@@@@@@@@@@UPDATE@@@@@@@@@@@@

I just went to look at this post and typed in by mistake:
http://theubster.logspot.com ???

Blue

2006-08-21T12:53:00.000-05:00

Artistic ability runs in my family. My grandma was a portrait artist, my uncle is a sculptor, my mom is an artist with her own studio. So it would make sense that my 3 year old son would pick up on this keen ability, especially since it skipped me. The other evening when Aidan should have been in bed he was in the hallway playing, like he had many other times. After a few minutes my wife and I walked up the stairs to tuck him back in bed. We were horrified at what we saw. Blue crayon all over the carpet. A nice design but none the less horrifying.

Last night I decided I better get to work and begin the cleaning process, which according to my Google search result, wasn't going to be that hard. It called for a butter knife to scrape off any excess crayon, an iron, and a brown paper bag. The paper bag was to be placed on the crayon and heated with the iron until the bag was saturated with the crayon. The remainder could be cleaned off with several iterations of detergent and water. LIARS! This article has no bearing on the real world of budding artists and blue crayon. It took nearly 3 hours of industrial foam carpet cleaner, our Little Green Bissel, and a ton of scrubbing on my part. Tomorrow I'll post the result.

@@@@@@@@@@@@UPDATE@@@@@@@@@@@@

Okay, so here are the long awaited pictures of my hard work. It is from a slightly different angle. See if you can spot the previous artwork.

Let's go Krogering!

2006-07-31T12:36:00.000-05:00

This Saturday morning Melissa, the boys and I went to Kroger to do our weekly grocery shopping. As we were walking in we saw the SHFD (Sterling Heights Fire Dept) truck out front. As we walked up to get a cart they asked if the boys wanted to see the truck. The pictures below tell the story.

They let Aidan start the engine and blow the air horn.
He loved it! Thanks SHFD!

Fair Weather Fan, 911 and DVD

2006-07-20T19:35:00.000-05:00

Over the last 11 days or so a few things stand out to me. They are as follows:

Fair Weather Fan?
My Uncle was in town last week and wanted to see a Tigers game. I haven't been a baseball fan since the last strike. When my Dad came up with an extra ticket, away I went. I'll tell you the bad things first. I had never been to Comerica Park for a baseball game (I was there once for a party after Fash Bash) and was looking forward to a cold beer and some peanuts. The beer was $8 for a 30 oz cup, and the peanuts were $4. I wasn't prepared for this. I headed for an ATM, after all I was at Comerica Park, I shouldn't have a hard time finding an ATM. Just outside of my section I saw an ATM with no one waiting. As I approached I noticed a disturbing sign, "Out of Order". What? Ok, this wasn't going to stop me. I started walking. I went from section 118 to section 136 when I saw another ATM sign. As I walked up I saw 40 people in line. What kind of a bank sponsors a baseball park, puts in 4 ATM's and then let's one be out of order during a game? Comerica. After waiting in line for money I had to pee, more waiting in line. Then I needed that beer and peanuts. More lines! Arg!

Despite the expensive food (I had peanuts, nachos, popcorn, and 2 beers) I had a great time. I was reminded of playing little league baseball, and going to opening day in 1984 with my friend Brian, and the time I took my Grandparents when I was given tickets from my boss at Carron & Co. (sometime in the mid 90's). All good memories. And to top it off, the Tigers kicked ass! I'm looking forward to taking my boys when they are old enough.

911
It was about 8pm on Saturday night when we heard Aidan making noise upstairs. We told him to just come down and have some popcorn with us. While we were enjoying our popcorn the phone rang. I got up to answer and as I was walking back to the couch Aidan decided to stand up, fall, and smash his face into the coffee table. I heard a horrible bone crunch. I said "Oh my god, gotta go" and hung the phone up on My sister-in-law Jamey, sorry Jamey. Aidan was screaming. My wife Melissa picked him up and tried to console him. I said let me see. I held him, blood all over his face and mouth, asked him to open his mouth so I could see. I freaked. Normally I'm the calm one, not this evening. I saw blood, raw flesh and loose teeth that he was trying to spit out. Again, I freaked. "Call 911 !", I said as I ran him to the bathroom so he could spit out his teeth. I held him over the sink and encouraged him to spit the contents out. It was at this point I realize he is spitting out popcorn. I tell Melissa to wait, I can drive him to the hospital. Too late, sirens blasting in the background. Moments later we were out front of the house with one squad car, one fire engine and one EMS. They checked him out and told us he was Ok but needed to go and have a Dr. check him out. Several hours later and a trip to the ER our night was over. No stitches, just some surgical glue and nervous parents.

DVD
Melissa got me a sweet DVD player for Christmas our first year of marriage. The boys decided that they needed to jam crap in it over the last year. This weekend it was beyond repair. I know it was because I tried to fix it. I took the entire thing apart, ended up getting angry and tossing it in the trash. We got a new one for under $40. If I knew DVD players were that cheap I would have never tried to fix it. Oh well, it was fun...

Okay, Busted

2006-07-09T20:21:00.000-05:00

As Mark pointed out in his comment from my post below... The picture I posted was digitally manipulated. Here is the true picture. CJ she is not, but she saved my life.

Vacation with Sinbad the Pirate

2006-07-08T11:06:00.000-05:00

Before I go into great detail about my vacation I would like to admit defeat in my weight loss contest. I lost 7 lbs to his 8 lbs. Congrats.

My wife and I recently went on a week long vacation to North Carolina to see the Tall Ships and Uncle Sinbad. I'll give a quick break down of the vacation and then let some pictures do the talking.

We drove 17 hours in one day to get there. Next time we'll fly. The house we rented was awesome, right on Atlantic Beach. Six bedrooms and 5 bathrooms. Perfect for a family gathering. We walked out over the dunes and right on the beach. The water was warm and the waves were perfect for bodysurfing. We ate, drank (yes, I put all 7 lbs back on) and played the entire week. My wife, my Mom and Dad and I got in a few rounds of golf (the lessons helped me a little but I need more practice). We watched Pirates, tall ships, chatted with cousins, aunts, uncles and watched fireworks. We then drove 17 hours home. Again, next time I'll fly.

Bad Day

2006-06-27T07:19:00.000-05:00

I was reminded of these pictures from Mark's post about his sickness.

The Naked Truth

2006-06-26T06:58:00.000-05:00

Last Firday The Naked Truth Band, of which I'm a founding member had it's first "gig" of the year. The band has been together for 10 years and we are still playing graduation parties :-)
We try and play a few times a year for fun. For your listening pleasure I've included a few songs:

Jumping Jack Flash
Stepping Stone
Eighteen

Run Forest Run

2006-06-23T07:52:00.000-05:00

Last night I decided to take a run. I put on my running shoes, grabbed my iPod and was out the door. I thought I'd run a quick 4 miles... I almost died out there. It wasn't quick, I had to walk and run, this morning my legs hurt, my knee aches. The point is I did it. And tomorrow, I'll do it again, but faster.

I'm weak.

2006-06-22T06:31:00.000-05:00

Yesterday my childhood friend Aaron and his family were in town from Midland and we went to Chuck E. Cheese's so the kids could play. The kids had a great time. It didn't take my kids long to realize that daddy was putting money in the games so they could play. By the end of the night Aidan was reaching in my pockets saying "I need more money for the game daddy".

I knew this was going to be tough for me; I was going to have a salad. But I didn't, I'm weak. I broke down and had two slices of pizza & two trips to the salad bar. When we got home and got the kids to bed, I sat on the couch like a bump on a log. This AM when I jumped on the scale… 197.5 lbs.

How can this be? I've gained weight!

Do these jeans make my butt look fat?

2006-06-21T12:27:00.000-05:00

I've made a little bet on Monday with a co-worker of mine that I could drop more pounds than him before the 4th of July Holiday, which for me is Wednesday the 28th. We both weighed in at 200 lbs. on our home scales that morning. Game on. My co-worker Mark likes baseball so the loser buys tickets to a game. I'm not a big baseball fan so there is no way I want to buy tickets. I've been starving myself and doing sit-ups and push-ups at home at night and have managed to drop 4 pounds, not too shabby. Mark informed me that he has lost 6.5 lbs. I think he is a liar.

I had a handful of pretzels this morning, a half Caesar and bowl of black bean soup for with a whole grain baguette for lunch from Panera. No, I didn't eat the croutons or dressing. But now I feel guilty, and fat...

Velodrome

2006-06-18T09:38:00.000-05:00

Last night we went to Bloomer Park in Rochester Hills, we have been there several times over the years. The first time was when Melissa was attempting to induce labor with Aidan, a hike seemed like a good idea, till the downpour. I digress; we were there last night to view the 2008 Olympic hopefuls for track cycling on the velodrome. I'd seen the track before but this was the first time we saw it in action. These guys are crazy, the track is 1/8 of a mile with 44 degree banks and 13 degree straightaway. I'd guess the speeds near or exceed 45 mph. One needs to maintain 15 mph to stay on the banks. There are sprints which are pretty exciting but the team races were the riders literally grab their partner and throw them ahead during the transitions are insane! Here is a link to the construction of the velodrome, gives you an idea of the track, and to the site. Here are some that Melissa took last night.

I think I'm going to take a lesson this summer :-)

The Pressure is on!

2006-06-18T09:21:00.000-05:00

Based on Mark's latest post, "He’s Related by Marriage", and some of my brothers comments, I feel as if I'm under the gun to keep up the posting pace with them. So, game on my friends, game on.

Red Jack Cash

2006-06-16T14:48:00.000-05:00

My brother-in-law Mark has a pirate name, and I have an Uncle that's a Pirate so...

My pirate name is:

Red Jack Cash

Passion is a big part of your life, which makes sense for a pirate. You're musical, and you've got a certain style if not flair. You'll do just fine. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from fidius.org.

A new post!

2006-03-26T16:00:00.000-05:00

This is a quick post just for my brother Josh who continues to taunt me for only having one post. Doesn't he know that I'm busy?

Even though I am busy I’ve decided that I’m going to take up golf. My wife Melissa has been wanting to golf for years, so being a wonderful husband... I’ve purchased a set of clubs for her birthday and my parents got her lessons. She loves it! She even talked me into getting clubs so we can play while on vacation over the fourth in North Carolina at the Pepsi Americas Sail Tall Ships. My uncle Sinbad's Meka II will be among the ships there. The Meka II will be on 12 millions cans of Pepsi sold on the east coast. Pretty cool! Me thinks my next post will be about my new clubs perhaps?

My First Blog

2006-02-23T11:13:00.000-05:00

So I've decided to set up my first blog. I've had an account for a while, just never used it. I first set it up so I could post a comment on my brother-in-laws account.

Since I should be working now, and I don't have anything to blog about, I'll make this first one short.