Mortgage Woes

I know we've all done things with our money we regret. We all spend more than we have sometimes but at the end of the day the only person to blame for our money problems is ourself.

I'm still not sure how I feel about the government bailouts of the mortgage industry. I don't want to see the economy fall so far that it takes decades to fix itself. I also don't want to pump money into an economy so fast that it devalues everything I work for.

It makes me want to beat those who took advantage of those who had no idea what they where getting themselves into. I also want to beat those that took on to much debt at to great a cost. Everyone should be held accountable.

The optimist comes out in me looking at the markets and I see them rebounding and things getting better. So with that said I'll keep pumping money into my 401k with no positive increase. At least I've got 40 years till I can cash it out.

Raising McCain

The Right Thing in Palin

John McCain has chosen Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate and the more I learn about her the more I like her. If you can get past the crazy feminists and the reterick of the George Bush haters she's a shining glimmer of hope in the bed of rocks called Washington.

When it comes down to it she embodies why I like John McCain. When faced with hard issues they chose what might be a harder decision but what is the correct thing to do. I"ll say in most cases as there is a very small number of issues with each that I'd handle differently. The two that come to mind are drilling and domestic partnership. I want drilling and exploration in ANWR. John McCain hasn't always been a big fan of that although Palin has. I think same sex marriage isn't something I'd fully support but I have no problem with a domestic partnership for those that can see the separation. I don't know if both have voted against it because of politics or if it is just because they don't believe in it.

In any case I think that day to day each of my candidates will do what is right. They'll make the choices that I would like them to make without them ever consulting me. That lets me sleep easy knowing that I won't check DrudgeReport.com every day looking for what my President did that is going to upset me.

Consequently that leaves the other half of Americans in the other boat. I think that those who believe that John McCain is another Bush say so only because it is politically expedient. The liberals will tell you that John McCain votes with Bush 95% of the time. They don't state that his voting record has been as low as 77% with Bush and 67% with the GOP. That stands in contrast to Obama voting 100% in line with Democrats in his 'short' Senate career.

Click Here for more info on the voting record percentage debate. "So to sum up, McCain has indeed voted to support the unpopular Bush 95 percent of the time most recently, but less so in earlier years. And Obama has voted pretty close to 100 percent in line with fellow Democrats during his brief Senate career."

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.