The War on IM Scammers

I've found a new activity that I like. I'm always getting IM spam for people wanting me to cash check or do a number of other fraudulent activities. I've taken to the habit of either wasting their time with pointless questions or getting right into the insults. They sometimes send insults back but most times they don't know English well enough to understand what I'm trying to do. Either way it's a great way to waste a few minutes with each of them.

Hardest Part Of Love

The hardest part of loving someone is missing them. Just think about all the emotion that goes into missing someone. There must be countless hours, days, weeks, months, years that go into getting to know someone enough that a little piece of you is missing every time they leave.

I don't know how military families go through it but I salute them all for they are stronger than I am.

The Computer Life

For years I've lived my life on the computer. I think I've finally come to the point in my life where I'm sick of sitting at a computer all day. I'm sure it will pass soon enough when these hard projects are over but I just found it odd that it took 13 years for me to finally be sick of working on a computer.

Today America Thanks Its Veterans

Today at church our pastor did something very cool for Veterans Day. Durring the service she asked anyone to stand up if they had family in WWI. About 3 people of the 80 people there stood up. She then asked if anyone was in WWII or had family in it. About half the people stood up. Next she went through Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm and then Iraq. By the time she got to Iraq everyone but maybe 5 people were standing up and those who weren't that I could see where old and weren't able to stand.

It was very cool seeing how our veterans have touched each and every one of our lives. It makes you realize how much of an impact their decision to join the military has had on the outcome of your life. It also makes you wonder how easily things could have turned out and how differently things would be if they had made the ultimate sacrifice of giving their life for their country.

So thank you to all those who have server and thank you to all those who died giving me the ability to be here today.

Beautful Things

Mornings are beautiful if we'll just let them be.
Everyone have a great day.

Halloween

Halloween has to be my second favorite holiday other than The 4th of July. I'm leaving out birthdays and anniversary's. My favorite part is getting to wear my soldier stuff to work. On the 29th of October my company informed us that we were having the board of directors in and we wouldn't be able to have our Halloween Costume Contest this year. I email HR back asking if we could do it on another day but I never got a reply. This really pissed me off but at least I got to wear it out with the kids. Sawyer was a Bear and Beckett was a bee. The costumes weren't just cute they actually had some meaning behind them. Beckett's name means "bee keeper" so being a bee was perfect. Sawyer's name means "wood cutter" so maybe not the connection that I was thinking initially. So now I'm already looking forward to next Halloween, or the day I get to enlist whichever comes first. Note: Halloween will come first don't get scared I'm not doing anything rash.

Mental Implosion

Anyone ever had what they felt was a mental implosion? I have these multiple times a week and although the implosion is eminent my recovery from them is at times almost immediate.

I often wonder if it is healthy that I have these and that I don't ever work anything out after having them. I've always handled everything myself. I never ever talk about my emotions because I've always been good about handling them in my head. I know the fact that there is never any resolution is bad but I normally work things over in my head so much that it seems like there was a resolution.

Maybe I have less a depression type issue and something more like an anxiety disorder. Who knows but I'm sure I'll work it out in my head later.

What type of worker are you

After having a discussion with a co-worker tonight about other co-workers it got me thinking about the different types of people you might work with on a day to day basis. This is just a starter list I'll have to come up with more.

1. The Do Nothing: The type of person who talks the talk but can't walk the walk. They always have the solution for every problem but either have no idea how to get it done or rely on others to get it done.

2. The I'm To Busy: The type of person who always has too much to do and always points that out to everyone. This is the person who works very slowly and shuns away any new work that might be offered them.

3. Slow Typers: The person who could get so much more done if they would just learn how to use shortcut keys. CTRL-X,C,V,P are there for a reason learn how to not use your mouse for everything.

4. Super Organized People: These are the people everyone envies. The people with the nice organized everything. Papers are in folders, Cans are on coasters, pens and other items are put away in their rightful place and they can always find what they are looking for.

5. What Do You Do Around Here People: These are the people who come to work everyday and have nothing to show for it. Their co-workers also have no clue what they do. They goto meetings, they make suggestions but they never actually contribute.

6. The Overwhelmed: These are the people that have so much on their plate they never get anything done. They have way to many windows open on their computer. They have too many conference calls and they will do anything someone asks them done because they know they can do it better.

7. Can Do Anything People: These are the people everyone comes to when they have a question. The ones who always have a solution or a good idea what is going on. These are the people that run organizations. The ones that leave a void when they are gone.

Perfect Night Out

Last night (Oct 22nd) was so nice. Alicia and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary and our 4 year anniversary for dating. To celebrate we went to The Melthing Pot for dinner. We went there last year for our anniversary and it is so nice. It is a fondue place to put it simply. It isn't just cheese though. You cook all your food in the pot and get to finish off the night with a nice chocolate dish of your choosing. At first (a year ago) I though this would be some hippie place with guys wearing sandals and beads sitting on the floor around a pot full of cheese but I was pleasantly surprised. I'd love to go back more often but it's priced just right you only get to go on special occasions.

I enjoy our evenings out so much more that we have kids. It use to be just fun to go out but now I try and savor each minute of time we have together and alone without the kids.

So here is to my beautiful wife Alica and to the many wonderful years we have ahead of us.

Shelby's First Tattoo

Well I've finally done it. Thanks to some great input from my wife and a little blood from me we've got our first tattoo.

As many of you do not know I'm from Texas and I'm a proud Texan at that. If you ask where in Texas I'm from just reference the star. I'm nowhere near Dallas or Houston just FYI. So next time someone mentions that their cousin is from Houston and they wonder if I know them just visualize with me. Houston is way down there and I lived way up here. So much simpler now.

I forgot to mention the best part of the tattoo. Alicia's and my song it Lucky Ones by Pat Green so I was able to get that inside the Texas. I took the font strait off the CD insert and they were able to enlarge it. This was Alicia's Anniversary present to me and it was well worth it. We will have our 2nd wedding Anniversary on Monday the 22nd.

I never planned on getting this tattoo but the other day it just hit me. I love Texas, I love my wife and it would look great if it had burnt edges. OK maybe not exactly like that but it all came together.

All in all the experience was better than anticipated. It didn't hurt near like I though it would and it turned out much better than I ever imagined. I don't know how it could have turned out how I wanted it but this is 110% better looking.

Web Fun

I have to laugh at myself sometimes. I can't even begin to think about how many user accounts I have out there in cyberspace. I only bring it up because I created a new blog tonight. It is nothing worth readying as it was created just to create drama over at another blog host.

In the news the past few days I've been reading about Islamic Extremists and how they are using the internet as a tool to promote their ideas. More specifically it was about Americans who were blogging against America. I was able to Google and find a few. After being banned from posting comments on some of these I figured if you can't beat them join then. I've been trying to think up ideas for things to post like articles about Al-Qaeda losing and jokes about 72 virgins so if you have ideas please let me know.

Obesity in America

What has this country come to? I'm reading the headlines today at work and I come upon a story about a new doggy drug to stop your pets from being fat. Whatever happened to playing with your dog or cat everday. These days we are getting so lazy that our animals get fat too?

New doggy diet drug to combat pet obesity

I'm not quit sure how we got to this point in this country but I knew when I hit 230 that I needed to start losing weight. I guess it is easy for me to see as I was 165 the day I graduated high school but come on people. The day you start putting your pets on drugs to help reduce their weight is the day you need to give them up because you are to lazy to take care of yourself.

Taking the time to enjoy my weekends

Up until probably 9 months ago my weekends always seemed to go so quickly. Then one day something happened and they have become longer and much more enjoyable. What happened is this. I stopped worrying about work emails or what was going to happen Monday when I got in the office. I stopped being consumed by the computer and just trying to get stuff done so I could jump right back on. And most importantly I decided to enjoy the time I had with my boys to the fullest.

It's amazing how doing a few simple things could make my weekends longer and much more enjoyable but they have. So here is to the little things that make life that much more enjoyable.

Burma and the Mexican Flag

I've been really good about not posting anything political here but there are two headlines floating around this week I wanted to touch on as they aren't as much political as they are current events.

Topic #1 - Thousands of Innocent Protesters Killed In Burma

If you have not heard there were Buddhist monks and other citizens protesting in the streets of Burma this week in a democracy rally. Burma's government is a military backed institution who is very influenced and supported by China. During the protest a few people were killed by the police/military trying to control the protest. As bad as that sounds it is not near as bad as what has happened since. There are reports out that in the middle of the night these monks have been taken into the jungles and been executed. The numbers are in the thousands and they have placed curfews on the citizens so they can have free range at night to do what they please. Sylvester Stallone was taping a Rambo movie on the Burma border and witnessed some of the atrocities a few weeks back. More info about what Stallone saw can be found here.

Topic #2 - Vet cuts down Mexican flag which was being flown over the US flag in Reno

In Reno a business was flying the Mexican flag above the US flag on the same flag pole. As a TV crew was recording an Army Veteran right in front of the camera walks over to the flag pole and cuts the line giving him access to the both flags. He then cuts the string to remove the American flag which he proceeds to leave with. The man walks off with the flag right in front of the stunned store owner. The owner (a Mexican man) goes over and picks up the Mexican flag which is lying on the ground at the base of the flag pole. As he walks back into this store the news crew asks him questions but he keeps walking inside with a very beaten look on his face. I almost feel bad for the guy except for the fact that he was flying another country's flag above the US flag "IN AMERICA". I looked back at the TV website and they now show an article where the ACLU is telling them to retract their statements about it being illegal to fly a flag above the US flag. Gotta love America.

Spouse Pet Peeves

OMG I'm so ready for this. Please don't fall asleep reading them all. Just kidding Alicia I love you.

1. There are cups and cans everywhere. My wife actually calls her desk the "Can Graveyard".

2. At least a few times a week there are multiple cereal boxes out and open at once. Compounded by the milk being left out/open for hours. I don't mind having 8 boxes of cereal as long as half of them aren't on the counter at any given time.

3. I come home to find lights on everywhere. When I get upstairs to put the boys to bed I see that the bathroom light is on and probably has been since before I got home.

4. There are nursing pads all over the bedroom and bathroom. They stack up and turn into the leaning tower of excess milk.

5. There is very rarely a milk bowl that doesn't sit for at least a few hours. They tend to collect on the kitchen counter, desktop or even on top of my computer which has a large air vent on top. Did I mention that I have milk stains down the front of my nice (once shiny) computer case?

6. Although it does not keep me from eating what is in them when I get home sometimes there are half eaten pots of food on the counter. They stay that way until one of us decides to do the dishes (normally at least 24 hours later)

7. Anytime I can't find the remote it is safe to say that it is either in the office (30 feet and 3 walls away from the TV or in the bathroom. There is also no clear shot from the bathroom to the TV.

8. When I get into my car after Alicia has driven it I tend to find the heat half way on and the air blowing half on my feet and half on my face.

9. I also get into the car to find the radio on and all the way down or completely off. It is only after hitting the volume button 50 or so times that I need to turn it on first.

10. When there are no cups in the cabinet I go to the bedroom to collect them all so they can be washed.

Knowledge is Missery

If you've ever been the oldest employee somewhere (tenure not age) then you know my struggle. I've been with my company for 3 1/2 years now and am one of the only people left from when I started. Unfortunately that leaves me as one of the only contacts when people have questions. This is no fault of the people asking the questions but some days I wished I had no background knowledge about everything that goes on around this place. Well back to the meat grinder and hopefully I'll only have to answer a dozen or so more questions today. So here is to all those worker bees out there banging your head on the proverbial spike like I do 5 days a week.

Have a good rest of the day.

Scarcams In The Morning

I love sarcasm especially in the morning. I just started the day off so well. Lucky for me I'm the one being sarcastic. I get into work this morning and the first email is from some person who's asking me to fix an address because someone is getting billed at the wrong address. We have two systems, CRM and Finance. I deal with CRM which does not maintain addresses in Finance. The person who is emailing me is in Finance and controls the addresses. Wait you handle where people are billed so why bother me with this. I think it is going to be one of those.

Dinners out are such a scream. No literally.

"Welcome to Abuelo's, would you like to see how much your kids can scream this evening?"

OK maybe they didn't say that but that is what happened. The night started out good. Alicia, I and the kids were going out to eat for the night with her family for her brother's 19th birthday. They had been at basketball tournaments all weekend and were up on the North side of Indy so we drove the 25 minutes to meet them for dinner at one of our favorite places to go, Abuelo's.

At 4:45pm we all got in the car and things started great. We got on the freeway and were headed towards the restaurant. By 4:58pm Alicia's mom called to check if we were there yet. When I said we were not there yet and that we were about 15 minutes away she gave me the "Well what are we going to do because our reservations are at 5:15pm" response. Quickly and fortunately with no sarcasm I asked if they would be there by then. They said they would so I just told them to go ahead and sit down. No brainier but you never know sometimes.

By the time we get to Abuelo's at 5:15pm (yes I drive very well/fast) both the kids were asleep. I don't know if anyone reading this is one of those "grumpy when woken up" people but I know my son gets it from me. In any case we get out of the car and wake Sawyer and Beckett up. Beckett is his normal self, all be it not quiet by any means, but Sawyer has turned into Chucky by the time we get to the table. Everything must die in this place. Sugar packets must be emptied into the fountain that is 3ft from the table, hands must be inserted into candles on every table, he must sit at every table except the one that the family is sitting, I don't even want to hear anyone talk to me and did I mention I want to scream and cry like you told me I have to shoot my own dog.

For all the times my son is a perfect kid who minds and tells you what he wants, he cashed in his chips tonight for the worse night out we've ever had. Worse than the night Beckett let us sit at Chili's right up to the point where the waitress was about to set the food down on the table, causing us to leave without even getting a bite of our food.

We tried everything to get Sawyer to calm down. We let him try and sit wherever he wanted. We tried to bribe him with food and chips and whatever else we could think of. Finally it was to the point where he wouldn't even sit in one place on the floor and scream so we forcefully (it took 3 of us) placed him in the highchair. Luckily he's big enough now where he can't easily get out of the chair.

Sometimes I wish I had duct tape

After 10 minutes of screaming he finally stopped throwing his fit but leave it to dad to ruin that. Once he finally stopped screaming I looked over at him and shortly there after he commenced screaming again. This gave us a total eating time of maybe 30 seconds. Not to mention that this whole time Beckett has been ok but still in the "OK I see mom so it must be time to eat" mood. Finally Alicia hands me Beckett and heads outside with Sawyer to cool him down. Unfortunately for me I wanted to take him in the bathroom 8 minutes ago for a good talking to in an environment that wasn't so friendly and where he couldn't just laugh and have something else to go look at.

I've now eaten probably half my food which was about the best thing I've ever gotten from Abuelo's before. I turn to see Alicia come in from outside with Sawyer who looks to not be screaming but still having tear stained cheeks. He again doesn't want to sit in his chair but he's ok sitting with Grandma. After 2 minutes of that he's had enough and wants to go walk around. The only alternative being he'll start throwing a fit again. I'm not the type of person to just let his kids cry and cause a fuss in a restaurant but A. Alicia wanted him to just sit there and know that he won't get his way and B. There is hardly anyone in the restaurant at this time and no one near us. Alicia on the other hand says her her food is just ok and after having spent the last 10 minutes outside I'd just be having OK food too.

As the seconds slip past Sawyer becomes more and more unmanageable. Finally Alicia grabs him to go out side and suggests we just get the food to go as neither of us is going to get to enjoy our eventing out. Well by the time Alicia comes back inside we've gotten boxes and begin boxing up our stuff. Before I we get it all boxed up Sawyer sprints around the restaurant into a private room where no one is. I take this as a good sign and stay in there hoping that the rest of the family can have a manageable dinner with out us. In the mean time back at the table the waiter has spilled tea onto Sawyer's plate which hasn't even been touched. Once I come back to the table Alicia has told me to have them take it off the bill and luckily the waiter comes back quickly and goes to get our ticket less 1 children's meal. After 5 minutes ( seemed like 60) our waiter returns with bill and card in hand surprisingly enough with everything taken off correctly. So after 35 minutes or so of restaurant fun under out belts we now have our food, out kids (we couldn't leave them there we asked) and what is left of our frail sanity.

As we get in the car to drive away I couldn't help but wonder how a perfectly simple thing like dinner out which we've done many times before has blown up in our face. The ride home is fine as both kids were out of energy (the were restrained too) and couldn't make too much of a fuss.

Fast forward to 10:30pm when Alicia and I sit down to watch some TV and eat our leftovers on the couch. So from now on who knows maybe we'll just make nice meals after bedtime or just spring for the baby sitter and actually have a nice night out with no worry of the kids going crazy.

When Moms Get Sick

I hate to admit to it but I bring home colds from work and it almost always leads to mom and the kids getting sick. Not very often but sometimes this requires me to take the day off from work and try and "MAN" the house although I have no chance of doing it quite as well as Alicia does.

I'm normally up and out of the house by 7:10am so on weekends or days I get to stay home I'm normally looking to get a few extra minutes in bed. Ever once in a while it ends up being 8:30am but like normal is was 7:20am or so. So knowing mom wasn't going to be up and around today we started the day off with a good dose of Dora. If you don't have kids you might not know there is a show called "Dora the Explorer". It is a show with a little Mexican girl who teaches kids all sorts of stuff (including Spanish) through the adventures her and her pet monkey (Boots) have. Becket and Sawyer both love this show. On very bad days in the past I'm sure the wife and I both have let Sawyer watch way to many hours of the show. On the other hand Sawyer knows more Spanish than I do now.

With Dora's help today went very well. When I say "well" I mean everything today was very good except for two events. One was having my boss and another co-worker get into an argument on a conference call. Luckily they were not in the same room or who knows what might have been said/thrown to/at one another. Second event was Sawyer getting sick. I'll give it to my kids if anyone ever kidnapped them it wouldn't take long before they were knocking on our door trying to give them back. Sawyer once coming down with the same cold Alicia has, began to go absolutely nuts. He cried, screamed, kicked, ran in circles, fell off the couch, hit, etc.. until finally Alicia was able to get him settled down. I even took him in the shower thinking that would help but unlike fighting dogs the water had no effect on him.

Well they are both finally in bed after some work and now I get to look forward to watching over the babies tomorrow. Unfortunately for me it is not the crying babies that I have at home but the bitching, whining babies that fill 5 days of ever week from work. It also seems that Alicia is doing better but if tomorrow morning she is not better I'm going to have some better stories about the kids to tell come tomorrow night.

Experience or Ability

I've sat at work for 2 days working on something and finally I've overcome my ego and asked for some help. In 2 minutes someone was able to show me how to do exactly what I was trying to do. I was doing it in a much harder manner that should have worked. Goes to show you that a little experience goes much further than having the ability to just about anything.

War Stories

It wasn't until I was away from Texas and older that I wished that I had a good grasp on my grandfather's war stories. He was in the Navy during WWII on a troop transport ship called the Attala (APA 130). As I got older I wanted to know more about my grandfather's exploits in the Navy and since not living in near him anymore I was unable to ask. However while he was here for vacation I was able to ask him about his time in the service. I was also able to document the conversations afterworlds and will type it up soon. I hope to share it with the rest of my family also as I'm sure they would like to know and hopefully would have more to add to it.

I'd suggest everyone getting those stories out of their relatives because that is something you'll always cherish passing down through the generations.

Family History

I've always been a history buff but until this weekend I didn't really know much family history when it came to my grandfather's side of the family. Here are a few notable facts I did not know. As I think of more I'll try and come back and post them.

1. My great-grandfather's father died in a coal mining accident and left him [age 10] and his brother (Uncle Sam) [age14] to fend for themselves. My grandfather did not tell me what happened to their mother so I'm left wondering on that one. When their father died Uncle Sam started working in a coal mine to support the two of them.

2. My great-grandfather married a sottish woman 20 years his younger.

3. One of my uncles in California was a tail gunner in a 2 person aircraft in the Pacific in WWII.

Weekend Visitors

I've had my grandparents here from Texas for the past two days and it has been great. I miss them so much and they live so far away so it has been great getting to see them. Better yet is has been great that the boys are getting to spend time with them. My grandfather is 80 and grandmother just a few years younger so it is time that needed to be spent. I've have follow up posts but just wanted to let everyone know that I had a great weekend.

Losing Sleep

Most adults lose sleep from time to time. I do most night and the nights I goto bed early I end up losing sleep too. Here is how the two scenario's go down.

A. Stay up late and get up early
My normal night ends somewhere between 11:30pm and 1am. This is because both the wife and I have a computer obsession. So assuming we actually get to bed before the sun starts to rise we tend to be woken up around 4am for the baby's first feeding. This is on a good night I should add. So after 15 or so minutes the baby is back in bed and I can go back to sleep. However about half the time I end up walking the baby in the stroller for at least an hour to get him to go back to sleep. Wait it's not over. Here lately the baby has wanted to get up around 6:25am and eat. Since my alarm clock goes off at 6:40am I turn it off before getting the baby and just stay up after that.

B. Early to bed or so I think
The other nightly scenario occurs when I'm dead tired and decided that I need to goto bed early and catch up on the sleep I didn't get the night before. So this might mean I'm in bed anywhere between 10:30pm and 11:30pm. As good as this sounds here comes the kicker. No doubt 20 minutes after I'm in bed asleep here comes the wife wanting to goto bed to. Not that I'm complaining (although I make it out like I am) about 30 seconds after she crawls into bed I start getting tickled. This must be reciprocated and 2 minutes later key the baby who wants to wake up early although it doesn't keep him from waking up at 4am again. After the baby is back to sleep and I'm ready to resume playing but the wife has decided she's tired and is ready to goto bed. I then proceed to lay in bed awake for atleast 30-60 minutes before being able to goto sleep.

Moral of the story? Stay up late and get more sleep.

Overwelmed

I'm one of those people who needs something to do at all times. If I don't have something to do I'll fall asleep. This is most apparent on the weekends or at night where I can sit down for 5 minutes and fall aslseep.

Today was just one of those days at work. No mater what I did more things just kept coming in to my mailbox. Later in the day they guy assigning me asked if I was busy enough now. He then commented on how I'd said just a few days before that I'm only happy if I've got too much work. I think this applies to my entire life. If I have a few extra seconds I'm always trying to fit something else in. I'd try and set a goal to do less but I'm already over committed and can do that at the moment. But in the future, the further future than tomorrow I'll try and get a grasp on this. Until then back to the 2 websites I'm developing on my free time even though I do this stuff at work too.

Lunch Break

So Alicia and the boys came downtown today to have lunch and go shopping with a friend and her boys. Her friend's husband and I work together so it is a nice way to get out of the office and hang out with friends during the middle of the day. We just sat around and ate at the food court but it was a great step away from the bump and grind of work.

Work today was so busy I didn't have time to catch my breath till I stepped out the door to go home. It is amazing how some days you are looking for things to keep you busy and other days you just wished the emails and phone calls would stop.

When I got home and picked up my 6 month old some I realized it was the first time I'd held the kid since I woke up and I'd seen him twice during the day before then. The saddest of all was the fact that I didn't hold him when the family came to see me at work. It is days like today that tell you that you really need a break and need to plan a vacation. So hopefully soon we'll get out fo town and do a real lunch and a real break from the normal day to day.

The good thing although it happens every days is that from the time I get home till the time the boys goto bed they are mine. Mine to play with and feed and whatever else comes along. It's one of those burdens of joy that each parent looks forward. If I didn't have my 3-4 hours of kid time a day I' might just go insane.

My First Flag

I think everyone should fly the flag but up until this point I had not had one flying outside my home. I have had one hanging in my office since July 2007 but never have I put one up outside. So for this September 11th that was my treat to myself. I'd been looking at flags for a while oddly enough considering how simple it is to put one up. I should have done it long ago but this last weekend I purchased one and put it up outside. Each morning I put it out and every night I go and take it back inside. Eventually I'd like to have a nice lit flagpole but until then I'll have to be proud of this small one.

Good Music

Each day I sit down at my computer either at home or at work and listen to music. I've got thousands of songs (2k) on my computer(s) although it use to be a much larger collection (60k). Out of all those songs it is funny how you can narrow it down to say 20 songs that you spend 90% of your time listening to. I do not know if everyone does this but I tend to listen to those same 20 songs on repeat for the majority of the day. About once a week though I pick just 1 song and listen to it 20 or so times in one day. The polls have yet to come in on if this qualifies me an mentally instable but there are plenty of other indicators for that. But until the votes come in I'll go back to the random song selections implemented by my wife for the night.

Family Coming To Town

I don't think any of us really appreciate the family we have around until they are gone or they are too far away to see very often. For me this has been the case for 7 years now.

When I graduated from High School I moved to Avondale, Arizona (Phoenix) from Dumas, Texas leaving all the family I had known for 18 years. I again had to leave family when I moved from Phoenix to Mooresville, Indiana when I came to live with my future wife and her family. In 7 years I've left 2 parents, 1 step parent, 1 brother, 4 step brothers/sisters, 4 grand parents, 1 great grand parent, countless cousins, aunts, uncles and many more graves than I care to count. This latest move from Arizona has put me 30 hours from one set of friends and family and 16 hours from the other.

So when I do have family come to visit or we get to go back to Az or Tx it is something special.
I'm so happy to finally get to say that my grandparents from Texas are coming out to visit us within the next two weeks. My dad's family is great I love every last aunt/uncle and cousin. No one fights and everyone gets along despite the little spats that all families have. That being said not one member of my Dad's family (including my dad) has come to visit me and "MY" family since I moved out here over 3 years ago. This excludes my brother who was the only member of this side of the family to attend my wedding in October of 05.

Without all the family history or dramatics I'm glad that someone is finally coming out here and I hope it leads to others including my dad and his wife visiting. And on the other hand I hope we can figure out somethings for two people in or near their 80's to do with two 20 year olds and two small children. Either way I'm grateful that I'll get to spend some time with 2 of the 4 greatest grandparents in the world.

Crying Man

Today as you know is September 11th. I being the American-Man have a strong sense of nationalistic pride. This becomes very apparent if you step into either my home or work office and if you look at the back of my car. I am proud I don't just stop at showing my pride in those two places but unfortunately I can't say I was able to show my pride in a bright and shining way.

That way would have been by being able to serve in the military with those of my generation who are now putting their lives on the line for what was started 6 years ago today. The military talk will have to come on another post but this "want" makes me very emotional at times.

Case in point was today driving home from the post office. It was just me and my 6 month old son in the car and a song came on the radio that I'd heard once before but couldn't catch all the words due to two screaming kids. Well today I was able to listen to them all and they hit home really hard. I was waiting for the phone number to be broadcast on the station so I could request "Have You Forgotten" by Darryl Worley but Tim McGraw's "If You're Reading This" came on the radio. I was excited as it was the song I had missed just days before due to screaming kids.

But as I sat there driving down the road each verse hit me deeper and deeper. The song pretty much is a death letter. A death letter being a letter a soldier writes in the event that he never makes it home. It is the last words a soldier might get with his family and loved ones. This one pretty much sums up the fact that he is not coming home and that he'll rest in a little field back home. He tells his family not to feel bad and that was sorry he had to go. The story and ends with "If you're reading this I'm already home".

Each time I hear this phrase in the song it brings a tear to my eyes. It sums up the story of all the brave American men and women since 9/11 who have sacrifice their life for everything I hold dear to my heart. For this I thank them, I remember them and I will strive to someday be able to do something worthy of their sacrifice.

Humbly,
Shelby

The Ever Dreaded First Post

The past few weeks I've been wanting to create a new blog. Alicia created a new one and I though it would be good for me to have a new one also. My previous one melban.livejournal.com is still up and will get my political comments but I'm hoping I can share a little more personal information here.

Stay tuned for:

• Funny stories about little kids
• Work related headaches
• Rants about the loving wife
• Sappy stories about my life and things going on around me
  
• and not to be forgotten "Shelby Jokes"
  

9/11 Never Forget