Faith Restored

I go to the store every week to get a case of water for work. I try to drink as much water as possible but the water here in Indianapolis is terrible so I need bottled water (nothing fancy, I get the cheap stuff which turns out to be about .25 for a 20oz bottle). Every week I run to the
Target and hoist a case on my shoulder and stand in one of the two registers usually open (out of 35). Two weeks ago I walked to an open line to be beat by a woman with a FULL cart, she looked at me and my one item then called her partner who also had a FULL cart and she stepped in front of me. Now normally I would have blown up and said something but I am turning over that leaf and let it slide.

Today I walk over to the line with my one item (again) and was behind a woman with a FULL cart. She was already there, no race to the finish, and when she looked behind her and saw me she told me to jump ahead. I said thanks but that's OK, she then insisted saying she needed gift receipts and would need awhile. I quickly dropped my $5 for the water and turned and
said thanks again to the woman. She said You are welcome, have a great day!!!

I think I just might now.

Rock and Roll Creation

Anyone else here love This Is Spinal Tap???? Just wondering, what a wonderful and funny Rockucomedy....

Stayed up late to watch the 3rd Monday Night Football game with my Indianapolis Colts and see them go 11-0!!! What a team with class and style, no showboating, no loudmouths, no 'bad boys', just plain old good professional players!! A team to look up to and emulate.

Slowly but surely my office is turning into what I always thought what the inside of Oscar's Can looked like. Now that I am on the downslope to 40 it is not as cool as I remember it would be. It will be cleaned eventually.

I have been struggling with no having anything to blog about and realized that I rather enjoy the quiet at work and home. Recently we (the wife and I) have been trying to be nicer to each other. Never really a problem but sometimes we fight over the dumbest things. I have noticed that she has been nicer lately and said something and she told me of her effort and it made me do the same. Now little things are just that little and easily fixed, we are happier and no stupid fights in front of the boy...win win!!!!

Now must fight ongoing laziness....later!

Start the Week Up

It is Monday again. What a great weekend!!! I had to work Friday but had all Saturday and Sunday to get the work done. The boy and I moved a couch upstairs and rearranged the loft and made a nice TV room for the boy and his friends. We also took all the Christmas stuff out and decorated the house. The tree is up (not decorated yet) and all that is left outside is the Christmas lights, we fixed our Santa and Snowman blowups, thank God!!!!

My body took a beating this weekend. It started Friday night at the movies (we saw the new Harry Potter) when a piece of popcorn got stuck in my teeth and I tried to flick it out. I ended up losing a filling (which is odd as I have not had a cavity in over 10 years!!) and now have to find a new dentist to fix it. So I am worried about that and as I took down the Christmas tree from the top shelf in the garage it slips and falls and catches my head in the back swing. I thought it was nothing but when I woke up on Sunday morning I could not move my neck. It felt a little better last night and I was able to work out this morning but man it has tightened up since then. I need to take a HOT shower and soak for awhile.

Till then.

The Day After

Sitting at work with a full belly still!!! What a day! We had plenty of eats and great company, family friends showed up for dessert and one brothercame down from Chicago for Turkey Day.

Tons of great food, turkey, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green beans, carrots, stuffing, cranberry sauce, creamed onions, rolls, etc, etc, etc....For dessert there was home-made chocolate cream pie and apple pie and store-made chocolate bunt cake and pumpkin pie. All in all the wife out didherself yesterday and everyone had plenty to eat!!

A little football on the TV, Survivor after that, the nephew was all good and the dog did not beg. A Thanksgiving for the scrapbook and many memoriesto cherish.

Hope you all had a great one....

PS No shopping for us today, all work, no insane shoppers to deal with, Thank God!!!!

Happy Turkey Day!!!!
(I love Google logos!)

T Minus 1

So the wife got home last night from turkey shopping and all is well!!!! We got the bird (14 lbs), potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, broccoli, rolls, pie crusts, stuffing stuff, green beans (and casserole fixings), apples, chocolate (both for pies), ice cream, tons of butter, blue cheese stuffed olives, assorted pickles, cheese bricks (Hellofagood) and crackers, beer, cider, tons of milk and I am sure a few items I have forgotten.

Not only is everyone now happy and gearing up for the feast but using my wife's new obsession (The Grocery Game) the entire bill came to $53.24...using coupons and smart savings she's saved 47% off the bill!!!! Over the past week we bought almost $200 in groceries and only spent $98.74!!! She's the best!

If I don't see you till then, Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Gobble, gobble, google!

T Minus 3

The wife and mother got in a fight the other day. Seems we are having Thanksgiving dinner at our place this year (my parents always do Christmas Eve) and it is actually going to be smaller than normal, just us 3, my parents, my sister and son and my brother (my other brother, his wife and kid are staying in Chicago and my Grandmother in New York). So anyway my mother keeps asking what my wife is making and she keeps telling her Turkey. Well last night she asked again and my wife said it is Thanksgiving we aremaking turkey.

Well no one likes turkey says my mother.

Everyone likes turkey says the wife.

But Sister and Brother don't eat turkey and I only eat a little, how about pasta?

The wife (after several days of this) finally says I am cooking turkey for Thanksgiving at my house, if you want to eat turkey then please show up if you do not want turkey you can go to a Chinese place and have duck or seafood, but I am serving turkey.

Mother says, well only get a small 5 lbs bird then cause only you guys will eat it, maybe I'll bring lobsters.

The wife says bring what you want but cook it at your house, my house will smell like turkey and stuffing and apple pie.

Mother then sighs and says well it is your house and you are running the show.

The wife says Don't you forget it!!!!

Help!

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

What A Weekend!!!

Even when lazy I still have no time to play my video games. Moved some furniture up and down the stairs, cleaned, prepped the bathroom for recaulking (and recaulked but took it out when I realized the caulk was not drying right, bad batch)...

Humdrum life this month! After blogging allot and the trips and activities of last month I feel like we are standing still. We are getting ready for Thanksgiving at our house and I have already bought a gift or few for Christmas, so I have that going for me. I have been thinking of some old school stories to tell and have been working on those.

I think I will set some goals this week and see how I do, so here it goes:

Due Date is Sunday:
- Print out Christmas Cards
- Hang Lights
- Buy 2 specific gifts before they sell out
- Start the DVD project

That should do it, I'll keep you all informed...

Ouch

Had a horrible week this week. Too fast and too busy. With it being in the middle of sweeps every show is like standing on the edge of a cliff with someone trying to push you off, not a good way to spend the week and by Friday we are all burned out. One good thing was Tuesday, we had a major storm come through and several tornadoes hit the area, not a good thing for residents but the joint was jumping at work and that is when I really enjoy myself. I was live, switching for 3 hours straight with no breaks, going from weather to live reports to breaking news to new pics the whole time and for half of it I was on my own (I like it better that way). The end result was HUGE numbers in the rating for all 3 hours and some major props from co-workers and bosses upstairs...that made my week.

I cannot believe that this is Thanksgiving Week, how the hell did that happen?? The boy is out camping so we have a chance to do a little shopping and be lazy. Yesterday was the lazy part, caught up on TV, moved some furniture, went out to a nice dinner with my folks and visited my nephew who is sick (bought him a SpongeBob DVD). Then we got home and watched Unleashed with Jet Li, man is he getting old!! Today is work day, finish moving the furniture upstairs, get oil change and go shopping for Thanksgiving. Also try to work on my office which is slowly de-evolving into a college dorm room...while I do not mind it, the wife is getting madder I can tell....

I Know What I Like

Another weekend flew by. Saturday was spent by me in training. We had ourAdult Leader training for Boy Scouts, from 8am till 5:30pm. While long in tooth it was interesting and fun and I look forward to various other aspects of Adult Scout Training. They have a Scouting University every year with tons of courses, so I am sure to take a handful, Advanced Knots is one of them. I am enjoying being involved in the Troop Committee, it reminds me of my time in the union. Tons of positions, a little politics but all in all aimed at the same goal. While I am not able to attend many of the camp outs (due to scheduling) I am glad to have a hand in the operations and planning of the Troop and hope to carry on for some time to come.

Sunday was a lazy day, AWESOME. I actually slept in till 10am ( rare for me), watched the Colts game ( 9-0 ) and then did a little outside work and cleaned my workbench. If the boy had not lost the cables for the Playstation I would have played a game or two as well. That being said I did reinstall my Video Editor and plan on restarting that project this weekend.

My Itunes experiment is going as planned. I am slowly but surely adding all of my music to Itunes in hopes that when I do get an Ipod I will be ready. The wife noticed this week as I had several CD's out and was listening to music we haven't heard in a VERY long time. So far I am up to 5 gigs of music, not to shabby.

We may notice some pics below, for some reason Hello is not friendly today and instead of 8 pics I wanted to share you got the same one like 4 times, I have since deleted those posts and tried to add one pic at a time and ran out of time itself. So enjoy those 2 below, the wife and the boy in DC and the little known and hidden away World War I Memorial.

Till Later.

Washington DC 

Washington DC 

Where's The Week?

Thursday already and I haven't posted a bit this week!!! Been busy at work, sweeps; and Scouts every night this week (Meetings, committees, training) and I have an all day session on Saturday, so I am booked.

This time of year is called the book in my business, sweeps to some. It is when the networks pull out the big guns to get the big ratings so they can charge the big money to the big clients. It works the same on the local level except instead of quality programming and big guest stars, we do newscasts. We want to get good numbers in key demographics to watch our newscasts (5, 6, 10, and 11) so we can crow about being number one and charge big bucks for commercial spots next quarter. The problem most of us on the production side have is that there is no rhyme nor reason sometimes. It is a do it because we can do it mentality that makes a show look like crap and the talent look uncomfortable. Example: We have one of those touch screen monitors for Traffic that they use in the morning, you can draw cars on it with your fingers, or pull video out of a little helicopter or put lines, highlights, etc. Well the higher ups want the regular talent to use it in the evening newscasts to 'enhance' the story. Problem is that those that use it were trained on it for a few weeks then practiced daily for a week or 2 before going on air. So we do a fake touch screen where the talent makes like they are touching it and we in the back change the source in the monitor so that it looks like they are changing it by touching it, it is really pretty stupid.

My comment has been all along that if you want people to watch and want good ratings, then put on good shows, quality shows every day and you will get that audience. There should not be a period where you do your best work, that should be called DAILY!!!!

T.O. and Teamwork

If you do not follow the NFL, then you might not have heard that T.O. one of the best in the game was suspended by his team for comments made during an interview last week. Basically he is a cancer and a troublemaker and the team (Eagles) have decided that they would rather play WITHOUT the best player and work better as a team then condone his actions. And to that I say BRAVO!!! The same happened this year with Sheffield and the Yankees, I would have benched him but nothing was done.

This is something to show the kids at home. Actions have reactions and just because you are the best or the brightest does not give you license to demean others. It does not give you an excuse to be rude or dismissive. And it certainly does not give you the right to bad mouth your team, your co-workers, or your boss.

So let us hold T.O. up and show the world, all the talent in the world and he is still a prick and now he is riding the bench.

Treat others as you yourself would like to be treated. And if you cannot say something good about someone, say nothing at all.

Family Time

Well the weekend is over and boy are my arms tired...

It was the niece's first birthday and we had a ball. It was a nice small event with family and a few friends, all in all a good time. The weekend turned out alright. We spent tons of time with the family and was able to clean the house and get the boy's closet and room done (a major chore!!). All that remains now is my office and garage...both my responsibility :-(

When the party was over and the food gone we were sitting around talking about the past, things we done, stuff our kids are now picking up form us, when the parents told this story of me at 4.

We were driving around town one day and I was strapped into the backseat (no car seats in those days) when we were rear-ended and pulled over. The windows were down (no A/C) and the adults were getting out the see the damage when I leaned out the window and shouted "Asshole!!" to the people behind us. Between laughter my father worried about getting the crap beat out of him by the big guy that had hit us...

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Friday Night

Busy weekend planned ahead, first we have a birthday party (1st) and then some Scout stuff and of course the big clean. It is a wonder to me how messy a house can get in a few days and we are trying to be neat!! One of my co-workers is planning to hang his Christmas Lights this weekend,
crazy!!!
Here's hoping we have a nice rainy weekend so we can stay indoors, get some cleaning down, household chores and then chill. I am talking TV, or rental movies, read a book, play a board game or Playstation with the boy...that's what I am looking for. Otherwise I'll half to mow the lawn again, clean the car and garage and go 'shopping'...blah!

Washington, DC Wrap

I recommend that everyone visit Washington DC once in their life. The following is a quick wrap:

The city was very clean, which surprised us.
Most everything is in walking distance (even for a big guy like me).
Start early, stay late.
Weekdays are better than weekends.
Plan, plan, plan.
Be prepared for searches in all buildings so travel light and DO NOT take food to the Capitol.
And if you want to visit the White House, contact your Congressman or Senator. They can submit your name to the White House for a tour, but it should be done at least 6 months in advance and their is no guarantee of getting one.

That's it, hope you all enjoyed the travelblog. I will have pictures this weekend. The camera is full and it is my niece's 1st birthday so I have to empty it anyway.

Washington, DC Part II

Day Four: Friday

We awoke early to eat breakfast and get to the Capitol ASAP, they start handing out tickets at 8:30am and it is first come first serve. So we eat a quick breakfast across from the FBI building (there was a locked door in the back of the store, Agents would use a key card and the door would open and lead to hallways in several directions). Walking to the Capitol was not bad (20 minutes) and we made it in time for the 10am Tour. The tour itself is quick, the Rotunda, the old Senate Chambers, the Vault and the old Supreme Court. The interesting thing that was going on was that the House was debating the motion of having Rosa Parks lie in honor in the Capitol (which did pass).

Across the street from the Capitol is the Library of Congress. We joined a tour in progress and proceeded to enjoy the best one hour tour of the trip. The man giving the tour was a librarian, funny, knowledgeable, with thick glasses (and holding chain), laser pointer, brochures stuffed in pockets and pens in pocket protector. He made the wife and I laugh and provided an incredibly interesting tour of a library!

Side Note: Originally when you wanted to copywrite your book you would send 2 copies of the books and $2 for the copywrite. So many books came in that the Capitol had books stacked on the floors of the House and Senate, so they decided to build the Library behind the Capitol. After several years of planning and building the first Librarian was charged with embezzlement of $30,000 and removed from office. His replacement continued moving all the books from the Capitol to the Library and began cataloging them. While doing that he found in many books the original $2 fee. The staff was so overwhelmed in the Capitol that they just put the $2 in the books and tossed them on the floor for when they moved into the new Library. And you guessed it, it all added up to $30,000. The 1st Librarian was reinstated.

Next to the Library of Congress is the Supreme Court. No big stops, just some picks and on to the NABET Offices located a few blocks away. We stayed for a while resting and catching up then headed to the International Spy Museum. This is not a National museum and you must pay to enter. While waiting to go in we bumped into a family from out Scout Troop, we did the museum with them. The museum showed the history of espionage and was interesting but not worth the fee, I feel, but we had fun.

Day Five: Saturday
Our last full day was saved for 2 places, The Museum of Natural History and the Air and Space Museum. Words cannot describe the wonders held in those walls, from the Hope Diamond, Dinosaur bones and exotic animals to the Wright Flyer, The Spirit of St. Louis and Apollo 11. It must be seen, it must be explored and it must be preserved.
Here I must chronicle my only disappointment, The White House Visitors Center. I hated it, all it did was remind me of the fact that because of terrorist we can no longer visit the People's House without an invite by your Congressman and a 6 month wait.

We ate dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe, next door to Ford's Theater and called it a night. We were asleep minutes after getting back to our room.

Day Six: Sunday
We had planned to go to the Jefferson Memorial and Arlington as we left but the 30th Annual Marine Corps Marathon was that morning and it took us 30 minutes driving to find an open road to get over the Potomac. By that time we were just ready to go. So packed in our car (which we haven't seen all week) we said goodbye to the Nation's Capital and made it back to Indiana with blazing speed (8.5 hours) to the waiting paws of our dog, one phone message and a stack of mail. As the boy said, "The best family vacation EVER!"

Trip Notes:
- Visit Washington during the week, we had the place to ourselves and saw tons of lines everywhere on Saturday.
- Stay downtown and walk everywhere. We never needed the car (wanted yes but never needed).
- Do the No Eat Method. Eat a good breakfast and do not break until dinner. There are plenty of hot dog vendors on every corner.
- PLAN, get a trip book (we used National Geographic) and bring a cell phone. We called several places (numbers in the book) during our walks to check on times and waits.
- Spend the extra bucks to stay within walking distance of the National Mall, everything else is FREE, your only cost is food and lodging. There are hours upon hours of Free entertainment and wonder.

Funniest Thing Said On Trip:
Wife: "Bryan you don't hear half of what is said and don't listen to the other half!"