Trevor Levi Brancheau

Here are some pictures of Jeremy & Jessica's new son Trevor Levi. He was born last night at 11:03pm weighing 8lbs 11oz & was 22in long. Everyone is doing fine.

Holiday Weekend Update

Well it is over for another year. Christmas was ok this year. It was good, but it seems that as I get older it just isn’t as fun as I always remembered it. It could be the stress of being an adult, having a family, juggling all the different family gatherings, or maybe it is just life in general. Life has been pretty stressful this year. Getting a dog, moving to a new house, & having a baby, just to name the big things & all to a person who doesn’t deal well with change. My resolution for the New Year is to relax, slow down & spend some more time with my kids. We have a wonderful yard to have a blast in. Logan & me are going to take up gardening.

This was the year of the train for Logan. He got some train track from Grandma & Grandpa Perkins & Elicia & I got him a train table set. He got a bunch of learning stuff from Grandma & Grandpa Brancheau. He is really smart & loves the leapfrog videos. I got some hunting stuff & a very nice, very warm carhart coat to go with my coverall’s. Elicia got some perfume, & a really cool bird feeder. I can’t wait until it is warm again so I can install it. This is Iowa so maybe I will get a change next week. This wonderful state hasn’t seen a white Christmas in over 5 years & it only takes an inch of snow to qualify as a white Christmas. I miss the Michigan winters. My theory: if it is going to be cold then there ought to be snow in the ground. Maybe next year we will pack up & go to Michigan to grandmas for Christmas.

My grandparents are coming out this week to see us & they have decided to come to all of our houses. So that has sent me into a spin trying to get things in order before my grandpa comes. I told Elicia yesterday that it seems like there is never a shortage of projects with an old farmhouse. Every time I walk through the house I spot something new that needs fixed of changed to suit us. I am just going to start a list & slowly cross them off as I complete them. I love doing that kind of stuff. To me that is what makes a house a home. It is what makes it your own home.

I have pictures of Christmas & I will try to get them up this week.

Death, Gloom, Despair & Agony…

A perfect record was tarnished yesterday. The chase for a perfect season ended. The colts lost to the chargers 17-26. I am totally convinced that they lost because I wasn’t there to watch the game. I did watch part of the game while I was out to lunch. It was early in the game & it wasn’t looking good then so I made peace that this could be the game that they loose. You had to know that someone was going to beat them sooner or later, although we haven’t had an undefeated season since the 1972 dolphins.

This last week has been really busy. I have been trying to catch up since coming home from Michigan. I am the only one who does my job & my employer thinks I am superman & that they only need one person to do my job, so I am really backed up.

I spent this last weekend with my in-laws for Christmas. My cousin/future brother in law was here from Michigan for the week, so we had Christmas a week early. My father in law decided to get back into the deer business again this year so I help process some deer. Seeing all the massive racks hanging, renewed the buck fever in me. Today starts late muzzleloader in Iowa. It runs until 1-11-06 & I have some holiday weekends coming up, so I am hopeful.

We went to see The Chronicles of Narnia last night. It was slow starting but I was impressed, I really liked it. I hope they keep the series going.

Awesome Michigan Pictures

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Great Memories.

Sorry I haven’t written anything in a few days. Work has been very busy after the long weekend & December is always a busy time in the corporate world. Everybody is trying to finish the year’s work & stay on top of things for the holidays. Between work & a video job I am doing it seems like I hardly have time to eat. Oh well.

It seems to be the week of death in my family this week. Elicia’s great grandma died on Monday & the funeral is tomorrow. My dad called me today on his way home from seeing my grandpa & his time is very short. My grandpa’s death I think will be very hard. I think it will be the first person to die that is close to me. Any other death that I have experienced has been people or family that my parents knew or were close to & didn’t have the effect on me that my grandpa will. I heard that hospice said that if my grandma was going to have Christmas to have it now. It sounds like my dad is going to go back up there after the weekend. If the family is getting together for a last Christmas than I may try & leave next week to go be with them. I told myself that I wasn’t going to go up there until he died, but the more I think about it I think I really want to see him again. I would love to have him hold his grand daughter, only the second Brancheau girl. I would love to hug him again & tell him that I love him. Life will be very different with out him. What a horrible time of year to die. I think my best memories of him were at Christmas time, the old farmhouse on Manning Hill, snow on the ground & the smell of wood smoke from the chimney. I can remember waking up to the sound of my grandpa banging pots & pans & the smell of grandma cooking breakfast. We would come downstairs & sit on the giant vent from the wood stove to warm ourselves, Christmas music playing, the whole family was there including Jimmie (Grandpa’s somewhat adopted child). Breakfast was always good, we would open our gifts & play with our toys, watch Christmas specials on TV, & grandpa would pin us to the ground & wrestle us & our parents would have to call us in from sledding or playing with our toys for Christmas dinner. That is the way I always want to remember him. I will always have those great memories to hold on to.

Well we got 3-4 inches of snow last night. I was kind of excited because I wanted to see how the snow fell & drifted at the house. We didn’t have a lot of wind with this storm so I couldn’t really see how well my snow fences work. My philosophy is if it is freezing cold than there ought to be snow on the ground. So I don’t mind a little white, beside it’s Christmas time & you need snow for Christmas.

Thanksgiving Pictures

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Weekend Update!!!

One holiday down two to go. We had a great thanksgiving this year. You can check out the pictures here. In the morning we went to Elicia’s parents for a Danish breakfast of ableskevers, which look like this.
It tastes a lot like an elephant ear from the fair. Very good.
Than we went back to my house to finish getting things ready for dinner. It was kind of stressful. I had to keep reminding myself that we were on no schedule, relax and have some fun. We deep fat fried a turkey, wow, this is the third turkey we have done like this & I will never roast a turkey again. We had both of our families & Elicia’s grandma over. Dinner went great, & after it was football & coffee while the girls schemed their black Friday attack plan.

Friday I watched the kids while Elicia was shopping & tried to work some on a video job I am doing. It wasn’t a very productive day with a 4 year old & a 3 week old. I did manage to make some killer turkey & slider soup. Those of you not from Michigan a slider is a home made noodle. Than when Elicia got home she offered to go back into town so I could go to Sears to check out the tool sales. What a wife. Honestly she rocks, the way she takes care of our family & home. I love her. You could not ask for a better wife & mother.

Saturday I had an early band practice & than I came home & installed some snow fence. Those of you from Michigan, Iowa has nasty wind storms when it snows. So in an effort to save some shoveling & snow blowing & put snow fence up. Later that night we watched a few movies & than off to bed.

Sunday we went to church & afterwards Jeremy took my kids so Elicia & I could go out for our anniversary. Six years. Man time flies when you are having fun. Oh by the way happy birthday to my cousin, Michael Oliver. After our date we went & hung out at Jeremy’s for a while. I had to play with his new computer. Man I love technology.

Back Pain...

What a weekend, Elicia’s grandparents & family came over on Saturday to see the baby & I went to the last class for Highest Call Saturday night. Sunday after church we went to my parents for our annual tree party. Each year around thanksgiving we all get together & set mom & dad’s tree up. It has become a tradition. We had a great lunch & watched some great football. Go Colts!!! They are 10-0 after this weekends victory. I am going to call it now; they are going to the Superbowl. I had a fairly good headache & had taken some of dad’s pain meds to numb my head & they ended up kicking my butt. We went home around 8:30 & it was lights out by 10.

Do you ever wake up with back pain? I just got a new mattress & I have been sleeping great, but this morning I woke up with this really sharp pain in my back. It felt almost like some one had taken a knife & thrust it into my back & turned it several times. Well I got up & took a shower, went down stairs & as I opened the front door I had a flier in my screen door. Now the pain of that knife in my back it me like a ton of bricks. It was like in the movies when some one gets stabbed & he drops to his knees & than the perpetrator thrusts one last time & finishes him off. As I read the note I understood what the pain was from. It wasn’t from my new mattress; it was from my best friend. I had been flamingo-ed. Man it hurts; I had to call the employee assistance program at work today for counseling. After I had helped in covert missions, after years of friendship, after purchasing flamingo insurance. My friend stabs me in the back. Oh the pain & emotional anguish. Oh well, touché to him he got me. He must have been feeling spunky because his bears won. It all goes to a good cause anyways.

This is probably the best week out of the year. We only have to work three days this week, than comes the food & football, woohoo I can’t wait. Elicia’s parents & one of her grandma’s & my parents & all the brothers & sisters & a dog are all coming to my house on Thursday. I can’t wait; I think it will be a blast. I love being with family.

Cold Enough To Freeze Snot

Well yesterday was pretty uneventful. We hit a high of like 27 degrees & I don’t think the wind chill ever came above 5 or 10 degrees. The wind was sustained at like 30 or so mph & gusting to 45 or 50 mph. I had to drain my waterbed in that last night. Not to long ago I noticed the structural beam in the living room starting to bow from the waterbed directly above it. A 100-year-old farmhouse was not built for all that weight. By my calculations I had at least 1,457.75lbs or more on that beam. We opted to get a traditional mattress that weighs quite a bit less. So I had to drain the waterbed last night & set up our new bed. To my surprise we slept pretty good, well as good as you can with a newborn.

This morning it was still freezing cold out. I went out & started my truck so it would be toasty warm when I left for work & when I finally left I got stuck. My sissy two-wheel drive little four-banger lightweight truck can’t take a little ice. My truck had been sitting in they yard since the storm came through on Tuesday. Well with the really cold temps & warm tires from driving home on Tuesday created a bond to the snow that was already on the ground. Since we have not topped 25 degrees since then the yard was fairly slick. Well I managed to spin & slide my way further into the yard. I was late & didn’t feel like messing with it. I shut it off, jumped in the jeep & it was off to work. I guess I will have to get Jeremy to bring all of his sand bags over so I have some weight to get out of the yard.

Only six more days until A-Day, Woohoo Alex-paloza is almost here. Let’s say you & me get the party started early, almost like a pre-celebration. It will be a short holiday, so lets start the party now. It’s like Christmas, the excitement builds & builds, you start listening to Alex-carols, & decorating for Alexmas. You bake all sorts of cookies decorated in Alex’s likeness, & send all your loved ones cards expressing your excitement & love for one another & the holiday. Alex just brings us all together. With all the hype & excitement the day arrives & it is everything you dreamed it would be & as the sun sets in the west everything just comes barreling down to a crashing end. The realization the Alexmas is over. You have to go to work in the morning & Alex is gone until next time, but when he returns the party starts again.  

It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!!!

It was about 15 degrees this morning with a wind chill of 2 above. Last night the wind was blowing I bet a constant 50mph by my house. It was blowing hard enough to move all 200lbs of me across the yard.
Elicia had tried to start a fire before I got home & smoked the house out, so she put it out & I started one when I got home. When I went outside to grab more firewood. I noticed that my stacks along my fence had blown over. That’s a lot of wood to restack. They were probably 6 foot tall & 8 foot long, & I had three of them. Are windows I now know leak really bad I could feel a breeze coming through the living room. The wind was blowing hard enough that every once & a while the stove would let off a puff of smoke into the room. The air would come right back down the stovepipe. That made it difficult to keep a fire going. So after the smoke detectors went off I had enough. I sent Elicia & the baby upstairs & I took the burning wood hoping I wouldn’t burn the house down, out of the wood stove & threw them in snow bank outside.

It rained all morning & than it turned to snow by afternoon, so all that water on the ground first froze stiff last night. I tried to open the door on my truck this morning & it was froze shut. I took the jeep to work today so I would have four wheel drive if I needed it. The wind was howling out of the north so bad this morning that you could feel the truck loose traction. The roads were 100% snow & ice covered. Now, answer me this, if you just had a storm & the roads were completely covered would you not think the truck would be out putting brine down before the storm & salt/sand after the storm. Nope not in Iowa, I didn’t see one single truck on the road. This being the first snow of the year & Iowan’s who drive like idiots anyways not knowing how to adjust & drive safely in it, I was in danger a few times this morning. I will be staying off the roads until they clear up. Not that I am scared or can’t drive in it, but I am fearful for my vehicles & my family if I go out they. Those morons could hurt me.

Thanksgiving is next week, WooHoo, turkey & football, I can’t wait. Elicia’s family is invading our house this year. I am kind of excited, now before I say this I am a straight MAN, but I like to cook. So I am looking forward to cooking a turkey. This will be my first year. Grandma Ruby makes some slamin carrots & I have grandma Oliver’s pickles to complete the meal.

Christmas is approaching fast. I am been loading my iPod with all my Christmas music. I started listening to it the other day & it makes me want to put the lights up. I still think it is wrong to turn the light on or put the tree up before thanksgiving.

My Thought For The Day:
As you are sliding down the banister of life, watch out for the newel post at the bottom, it could cause serious bodily harm.

Living The Dream

Do you ever dream? Do you ever think of how your life could have been different? Someone posed the question to me yesterday, if you could do anything in the world what would it be. I thought for a second & said, “I don’t know”. You know I couldn’t really think of anything. Is there a problem with me that I have never really dreamed of that?  There is a song on the radio that says, “This is your life, are you who you wanted to be”. Did you think your life would turn out as it did? On our way home Elicia asked me “so you have never really dreamed” I replied, I guess I am living the dream. She asked what I meant & I said that the only thing I ever wanted in life was to be a dad. That was the only thing that I can remember dreaming about. So I guess I am living the dream I said. Are we not the model middle class American, a house, two kids, two cars, a dog & cat, an income, how many people dream about that?

As I listened to a passage of a book about making your life count, I had to wonder, does my life count. Am I just going paycheck to paycheck completely numb to everything? Has this world desensitized me?
It is a routine everyday, get up, go to work, come home, watch the news, play with the kids, go to bed & repeat. I have heard the saying “Live & Let Live” a few times this week, & it has made me question myself. Am I living? I liked in Jeremy’s post today the paragraph about Kyle Lakes & living. Is what you are doing with your life reveal Christ in you? Are you living? Are you dreaming & working towards your dream & does your dream line up with God & his plan for your life? When you die are your friends & family going to forget you, or will they say he/she really lived & made their life count. I guess I just have a lot of questions that I need to answer.

Sorry for the depressing post, but I have a lot of things causing me to ask some questions about myself right now.

On a lighter note I got word of mutiny among the ranks of the F.T.U. It seems the flaming-er became the flamingo-ee. It seems the leader never purchased flamingo insurance. I thought it was funny.

Well we are getting hit with our first snow right now. Here was my weather email this morning, Prepare for winter! Rain will change to snow this afternoon, but the winds present a big problem by tonight with gusts near 50 MPH. Look for 2" to 4" of snow around the metro with high winds creating treacherous travel conditions. A winter storm watch is in effect from tonight through tomorrow morning. How wonderful, I love Iowa. It was 70 degrees a week ago. Living out in the country now with no wind block & the wonderful winds of Iowa (we are the windiest state in the us with exception to IL & the wind from lake Michigan) I am kind of scared not knowing how bad my driveway & road are going to blow shut. We will see in the morning.

Monday Update

I have started a crusade to investigate & expose Alex’s stalker. Most of my job is investigative so if you are Alex’s stalker, I would be worried.  If you want this to stop before your name is plastered all over the Internet than drop me a note & I will end this.  If you want to continue to play this game, than get ready to rumble.

If you have any information that can help in this investigation or would like to become a member of the Stop Alex’s Stalker site & contribute to the cause, than click on my profile & send me an email. In your email please include your email address & I will send you an invitation to the site.

Girder Music Update

I sent an email to Whitecross & voiced my opinion & told them what has happened & I got a return email almost immediately from Greg Hays apologizing. He stated that he was sending my cd & offered me a free cd from their bargain bin. That made me happy, but I am still a little scared to order anything else from them yet. I still have not received the cd, but if he sent it like he said it should be here in the next day or two. Don’t boycott Girder yet Angie. Whitecross is a really good band & has made some awesome music over the years, especially the new 1987 cd. You can’t go wrong with that cd. It would make a good Christmas present. I already have that one, so buy me like the In The Kingdom, or Unveiled cd.

I had a pretty busy weekend & it went way to fast. My father in law helped me install some sconces in my living room & I installed the actual lights yesterday & they look awesome. Very cozy with a fire in the wood stove.

I have a butt load of firewood (if you have a big can, than that is a lot of wood). My brother in law showed up at my house last night with a truckload of wood. I think I am set for the year. I might go get a few more truckloads & stack in my basement so when it is snowing & freezing cold out I wont have to take my slippers off to get wood.

I'm Back Baby

Well after a long hiatus, I’m back baby.

In all of my gittiness I may have thrown my support in the direction of Girder Music & Whitecross a little to soon. On 10/5 I ordered 2 Whitecross cd’s from Girder music. My order arrived on Saturday 10/15, only receiving 1 cd I called Girder music on Monday 10/17. I spoke to the owner of the company, Greg Hays, & he apologized & said he would priority mail me the other cd on Thursday 10/20. Mind you Girder music is in Illinois & priority mail is only 3 days anyways. On Tuesday 10/25 I emailed Greg & ask about the status of my shipment. I received no response. Well this just mad me mad, so on Thursday 10/27 I sent an email to the ordering department at Girder & voiced my complaint They responded & said “Your CD was mailed as promised”. I asked them what date it shipped & they never replied. So I waited. On Friday 11/4/05 after weeks & weeks of checking the mailbox & finding no cd I sent another email to Girder, again with no response. Now burning mad & with out a cd, I called my credit card company & disputed the charge. I told them that I have made several attempts to get the cd I paid for & they are not responding to me. So I asked them if they would credit me back the price of the cd as Girder music was not holding up their end of the deal.

It is stuff like that that just burns me. What horrible customer service. It is a shame because Whitecross has such good music. I guess I will have to get all my music from Amazon & eBay. I am telling everybody I know to stay away from Girder Music. They are bad news.

Until Next Time

All right guys & gals, this may be my last post for a few days. Elicia is scheduled to have the baby tomorrow. I don’t think they will send her home until Friday.

This weekend went pretty fast, we had a lot going on. Friday I went to my in-laws with the intention of cutting firewood, but ended up going out & finishing an electrical job with my father in law.

Because of the arrogance in my brothers statements on Friday & I quote “Those little sissys don’t have the guts to mess with my fortress” I called Layne & told him Jeremy needed to be taught a lesson. FTU then briefed & deployed Alpha Company (the Elite Forces of the FTU). At About 22:00 Friday night Alpha Company closed in on Jeremy’s house. At 22:30 with the yard lights on & no blinds on his windows Alpha Company circled Jeremy’s yard for a recon mission.  Alpha Company had a clear view of the target & observed Jeremy in his easy chair & Jessica working in the kitchen. At 22:45 Alpha Company breached Jeremy’s so called “Fortress” & planted the first Flamingo. Just after 23:00 when Jeremy went to bed the last flamingo was deployed. At or about 23:15 Alpha Company succeeded in their extraction mission. Alpha Company sustained no losses. Without Jeremy’s knowledge his fortress had been breached & he had been flamingo-ed.

Saturday I got up & made breakfast for Elicia & Logan, than back to the in-laws to actually cut wood. We downed a good size tree & got a good trailer load out before I had to leave for practice. Sunday we went to mom & dads for lunch than off to a church event for the afternoon. Let me just say that Because of Winn-Dixie is by far the dumbest movie I think I have ever seen, but the kids seem to like it & I guess as a parent we have to make these sacrifices.

Today is really busy, trying to get everything done before being gone for a week & a half. I have to go home & pack a bag & that it is off to the hospital after a few hours of sleep. I might need to take the old x-box so I have something to do all day while we are at the hospital. Elicia likes Tetris.

My Thought For The Day:
What happens if you get scared half to death twice?

Apple exec writes about the company!

By now I am sure that you know that I am part of the so-called “Apple Following”. I am a Mac fanatic. Well Apple's former director of video product marketing Mike Evangelist is writing a book about his life at Apple - and making it available, chapter by chapter, online. The book chapters are available as entries on Evangelist's blog, and make interesting reading for anyone looking to understand the light at the center of Apple's visionary leader. Happy Reading.

Sorry

I wanted to post & apologize for the lack of posts the last few days. I am extremely busy at work trying to get everything done before the baby comes next week & I had a 24-hour flu bug yesterday & that was not fun. I will try to post soon. I can see from my stat counter you guys are really hitting the site. Keep it coming. I’ll be back soon.

Gas Leak

After a stressful day at the office I went home to start a fire in the wood stove & drink my day away. Well, I got home had some dinner, started a fire & went to the fridge & grabbed a cold one. I popped the top to my ice-cold pepsi, sat down in my chair & turned the tv on. After a few shows I decided to go down & feed my dog. As I went down to the basement I was hit by a very strong gas smell. Now propane being heavier than air will sink to the floor, so by the time it hits your nose 5’ 10” off the ground you have a real problem. Well not having experienced all of this country living & having a small kid & a pregnant wife, we sided on caution & left the house. I turned the pilot lights off & the main gas valve outside & left. I called our propane guy who looks nothing like Hank.


When he arrived he proceeded to do several tests & he came up with nothing. No stinking gas leak. Again he states I really think you have a problem with your septic system. As he was leaving he says you may see a small charge on your next bill for me coming out. I said how much is small. He states $100. Holy Crap (sorry mom) that’s a lot of money. After all of our dealings with the gas company this last week, I have learned all the stuff he charges me $100 for. Trust me if you see what goes on you would agree that even a monkey could be a propane guy. Don’t get me wrong, he is a really nice guy who feels close enough to me to fart & pee on my trees, but it is easy stuff.

After he left I called my dad to tell him what was going on & then it hit me. I have a damaged drain in the basement & it is right next to the main line that runs to the tank. My guess is that while Elicia was dumping large amounts of water into the system from laundry & baths that night that the tank got stirred up & the gas came back in the house through my damaged drain. Man if that genius had hit me 3 hours earlier than I could of saved $100. Now tonight I have to spend my evening re-plumbing.

I just got a call from my brother in law; he shot a good size buck last night. I guess he gut shot it & he let it sit all night & he tracked it this morning. When he found it, it was still alive & he had to shoot it again. It sounds like we will go late muzzleloader, which is from 12-19 to 1-10. A nice long season & very cold. I am hoping to get something really good this year.

My Thought For The Day:
Have you ever noticed, in traffic, anybody going slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac!

Monday Morning Update

GOOOOD MORNING VIETNAMMM!!!

Glad to have you reading. Now down to business. It is time for the Monday Morning Update.

This weekend went by really fast. Friday afternoon I went home with the intention of going out & cutting firewood. Well, my dad spent the better part of the afternoon fixing the chainsaw. My mom cut down some starter trees that had taken over in my garden, & I dealt with a propane issue. Needless to say, no dice on cutting firewood. We did however have afire out side that mirrored the California wide fires. We burnt off a good portion of the brush pile I had setting in my back yard.

While dad was fixing the chainsaw we kept getting a whiff of propane. So I called the co-op & they came out & did a safety check on the system. He found a small leak, but nothing that should of produced the hit you in the face with a baseball bat smell that we were receiving. Well he decided to come back at 7:30 the next morning to change out some parts & try & solve the problem. Saturday was going to be really busy anyway & I am an early riser so 7:30 worked for me. He changed out the parts did another check & he found no leaks. We have narrowed the gas smell to the septic system venting. The tank is right at the front of the house where we smell the gas.

The service guy was done about 8:55. I had a 9:00 photo shoot (had to photograph some flamingos). I finished that about 10:00. I ran & got a new chain for the chainsaw & then we went to cut some firewood for a few hours. We loaded my truck & dad’s trailer & went back to the house where my Paul Bunyan dad proceeded to split the whole trailer load of wood. Well after that I had about enough time to get a shower before 4:00 practice. From practice I had a 6:00 class to video. Than after the class, about 9:30 I had an animal control issue to take care of. 9:45 rolls around & I get home & finally sit down.

Before I know it Sunday morning is here & it is up & off to church. I am completely worn out & have the worst migraine ever & no access to drugs. I told Elicia we need to leave as soon as church is over so I can go get some drugs in my system to help num the pain. Wouldn’t you know that that is the Sunday were everybody & their dog needs something, we ended up one of the last people to leave. Now about five hours into severe migraine with no medicine (you migraine people know what it is like), I want to just curl up in a ball in a cool, dark, quite, room & die. Nope it is my brother in law’s birthday & we have to go over there for cake. This house is the last place you want to be when you have a migraine. Most of the family is genetically LOUD! Well I crossed my fingers & took some prescription migraine medicine & it eventually went away. We just vegged, watched some football & a movie & did nothing. It was great.

When we got home I thought I would start a fire in my new woodstove & watch a movie with my very pregnant wife. No dice. I put some paper in to start the fire & smoke came pouring out of every crevasse on the stove. So being the handy man that I am I torn it apart & cleaned it. I put everything back together & still smoke filled the house. At this point mad, tired, & at the end of my ability, I called my all-knowing wise father & he came over & educated me on wood stoves. All this country stuff is new to me. We finally got a fire going & smoke going out the chimney & not in my living room & that made me happy. By the time that was done it was 10:30 & time for bed.

This morning I stopped off at the oasis & got a 64-ounce cup of strawberry-lime Gatorade goodness. Let me just say that 64-ounces can really go through you. I am ready for a catheter. I don’t think I have ever peed this much.

Got to go, lots of work to be done, & I have to pee.

My Thought For The Day:
To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research.

Apple Rocks!!!

WHOO!!! New Products From Apple!!!

Not that I have money to buy any of them. I can dream can’t I?

http://www.apple.com/powerbook/
http://www.apple.com/powermac/
http://www.apple.com/aperture/

Stupidity Update!!!

I went to my local Napa store yesterday & purchased some oil, an oil filter & an air filter. When I got home I put the truck up on the jack stands, pulled the plug from the oil pan, & surprisingly I probably got about 2-3 quarts of oil out. I put the new oil filter & air filter on & put my 5 quarts in & took it around the block. Now I know I shouldn’t be surprise, but man the truck runs pretty well. I can’t wait until I get the new plugs & wires on. It will be a whole new truck.

I just had a thought while I was sitting here pulling mushrooms off my pizza. I wonder who decided to eat fungus. That guy had to have some real pelotas to be the first one to eat that stuff. I can just see it, a group of guys all setting around in college way back when, Jimmy thinks to himself, man I think this pizza would taste better if I smeared some of that fungus growing on the leftovers in the refrigerator on my pizza. Nasty. I hate mushrooms.

In my line of work I deal with complaining people all day. You know that really starts to wear on you after a while. We have people from 40 on up to 85 complaining & making incredibly retarded accusations against our company & their agents, just to get out of a contract. What the heck is wrong with our country? Does no one take responsibility for his or her actions anymore? I guess everyone in life has a purpose, even if it’s to serve as a BAD EXAMPLE. This is something that I would expect out of my generation, but not of my grandpa’s. You know some of these people are really dumb. I feel like a lifeguard. “HEY YOU, YEAH YOU, OUT OF THE GENE POOL, NOW. Maybe that’s what’s wrong, the gene pool has no lifeguards.

My Thought For Today:

"Birdie, birdie, in the sky, why'd you do that in my eye? Looks like sugar, tastes like sap. OH MY GOD! IT'S BIRDIE CRAP!"

Sorry Mom.

Whitecross Pictures

Here is a link to some Whitecross pictures. The pictures are from a music festival in 2002.

http://www.allium-sativum.com/c2k2/Whitecross/content.html

My Stupidity

I need to make a confession about my stupidity. Now before I do this, I did know better & I was just lazy, so don’t be leaving a bunch of hateful comments. Ok, here goes.

I bought my truck in July of 2004. Since then I have not changed my oil, (I know) I have added periodically, but never changed it. Well I hadn’t checked it in a while & I got this really bad feeling, call it an urgency to check my oil before the motor ceases up. So I go out last night & pull the dipstick (remember no comments now) & the oil barely shows up on the dipstick. The motor is bone dry. God has to be keeping the motor lubricated, because it sure as heck isn’t the oil. I kicked myself & chalked it off as a good lesson learned. I went into the garage & I was lucky enough to have a quart of oil so I dumped it in the motor & I can hear the oil dripping down & hitting the bottom of the oil pan. I think, man this is bad. I am glad that I listened & checked my oil, before God decided to no longer lubricate my motor & teach me my lesson the hard way.

My Thought Of The Day:

“Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.”

1987 Has Arrived!!! YES!!!

I had a pretty good weekend. As I posted Friday, it only took about two hours for Logan to whine for mommy. Over all he did really good. We spent most of the day outside trimming trees & cleaning the garage. While we were outside working the mailman pulled up & delivered mail. Not really all that excited about the bills inside that were about to stress & further deplete my merger income, I decide to go over & see what came. When I opened the mailbox I pulled out a few junk magazines & a bill or two. Than a small cardboard box caught my attention. Could it be, No, it can’t be. Oh yeah baby, 1987 has arrived. Logan & I dropped everything & went inside. I said son let me show you what real music sounds like. Let me just say this cd rocks. It wasn’t long & Logan was singing along. I thought it was pretty cool, my son singing the same music that I listened to as a kid.

As we sat there soaking in the screaming guitar solos from Rex Carroll, I noticed that I only received one of the two cd’s I had ordered. So I went on with my weekend as there was nothing I could do till Monday. Well today rolled around & I called the number for Girder Music who shipped my order. The guy on the other end picks up & says hello, I asked if I had the right number. I thought I would speak to some sassy customer service rep that had a bad Monday morning. Nope, I get the cell phone for one of the head honchoes for Girder Music, Greg Hays.

Turns out Greg was at a e-commerce conference in California. I told Greg what had happened & he stated, “Well I got a call the other day from a guy stating that he only ordered one cd & got two”. Turns out Greg had to leave the office for his conference & had to bring in help to ship all the orders & my order got mixed up with someone else’s. He said shoot me an email & I will ship you a new cd when I get back on Thursday. In the course of our conversation Greg asks me what I think of the cd. Not knowing who he was yet & thinking he was just trying to be a good salesman. I stated that I loved it & had been searching for years for there music. He than makes this statement. “I am good friends with Rex Carroll & have been working with him for years to get the band back together for this record”. Well as it turns out Rex & Greg are the ones who started Girder Music.

In my conversation with Greg he just opens up & states that they are working on a re-release of Whitecross’ unveiled album & it is going to include a few bonus tracks of unreleased songs. He said to watch for it. As long as he was being so free with information I asked him about a new album with all new material. He stated that the guys have material & are in the writing mode, but it is kind of hard because they all live in different states & they all have full time jobs now. I took from our conversation that there is a VERY GOOD chance that we will see a new Whitecross album in the future. The was an article in HM magazine were Scott Wenzel stated that Rex Carroll had sent him a few cd’s of new material that just needed lyrics & so on. So I think the chances are pretty good.

ITS FRIIIIIIDAYYYYYY

YES, the best day of the week. Our office closes early, so you have all of Friday afternoon off to do whatever. It’s like a long weekend. Mommy is away this weekend, so it is just us guy’s. I am kind of looking forward to it. I haven’t had a good father-son hangout in awhile. I am hoping to catch up on some sleep, maybe get outside with Logan & burn some of the burn pile off. We will see how long it takes him to whine for mommy. He is a serious mommies boy. He comes by it honestly because so am I.

Ok, time for some name-dropping. Every year Starbucks comes out with a pumpkin spice latte. WOW. This stuff, in my opinion is the best consumable since manna hit the ground in the days of Moses… (A side thought) I am sure that manna was great, but how much better would it be with a vente pumpkin spice latte, a little sweet bread with your coffee. Anyways this stuff is awesome. If you like pumpkin pie, than stop by a local Starbucks & pick one up. If you have trouble finding one just drive to your nearest corner, I’m sure one is there. They are everywhere. I could have two or three of these everyday. They are so good.

Random Thougth

I just ran a crossed this news story on cnn. The headline reads: Mom delivers 16th child, thinking of more. What the heck, they need to separate these two. This guy must of had a fascination with rabbits as a small child. Maybe they should just install a zipper on her & speed the whole process up.

New Toys

Apple never ceases to amaze me. How cool is a video iPod. I didn't think that they would introduce one so soon after the nano. 

My Retraction

After further inspection of my skunk kill, I now need to retract said kill. I got home from work last night & decided that I had better take care of the skunk before the warm weekend that’s coming. So I got my spotlight, went out to the street, looked down the culvert, & nothing. Let me just say that this is very hard on the male ego. I have not had a confirmed kill since I was 8 butchering rabbit’s in my back yard. Trust me I am not some psychopath obsessed with killing, but man come on I need a good hunt to my name. O well sooner or later I will get one.

I got word last night of a few good shooter bucks nearby. So we’ll see what happens. We still have a good month until we are in the thick of the rut, when the deer are all love struck & stupid. They will be running around chasing does looking for a good time, when out of nowhere he feels a pinch, a pain in his heart. He thinks man that doe really wants me. He starts to feel a little sleepy, it becomes hard to breathe & he slows down. He looks down & screams, “WHY AM I BLEEDING”. Than all of the sudden the forest brings to spin, he sees a light then a glimpse of all of his dead relatives hanging on the wall surrounded by a bunch of guys in realtree camo. THUD, he kisses the forest floor, pine needles & leaves go flying, and he hears the hunter scream “YES” & the drumming of feet coming his way. The light slowly begins to fade until nothing. Silence. Man I can’t wait. Besides My anniversary, this is the best time of year.

Apple has a news conference today. Look for new Powerbooks, Powermacs, & new iPods (no video).

Remember, "To learn to succeed, you must first learn to fail."

First Kill!!!

Do you ever have those days in life where you don’t feel like doing squat? Well today is that day. I am busier than heck & have no desire to do any of it.

I had my first country kill last night. I went to let the dog out & I saw a small furry animal scurry out of the yard. I grabbed the gun, called the dog over & he tracked it over to the culvert under my driveway. I got the spotlight out dialed the scope in & pulled the trigger. YES a direct hit. What was it you ask? A skunk. Being totally pump about a good kill I went in the house chest puffed out, head held high, & full of pride. What a way to end a day. I went to bed & laying there staring at the ceiling the voice of reason started to talk. Reason said “ Hey, stupid how are you going to get that dead skunk out from under your driveway before it rots & stinks the whole county up”? I probably shouldn’t have shot a skunk in the first place, let alone in a culvert under my driveway. O well live & learn. It was still fun to shoot something.

Remember, constipated people don’t give a crap!

1987 Is Here!!!!

AWESOME!!!!!!!

Whitecross posted this on their website on 10/7/05. I can hear the guitar solos already.


We, just received the first shipment of CDs. If you pre-ordered your CD, we will begin shipping them tomorrow October 8th. Many of you (in the US) will get them by the 11th or 12th, however Monday is a holiday which might delay shipping a day or two, but you'll have them this coming week. If you have not already ordered yours, NOW IS THE TIME. We will start shipping all new orders on the 11th, the official release date. You can order the CD from our official online store at girdermusic.com --> http://www.girdermusic.com/artist/whitecross/1987.html The first run of Cds contain 3 bonus outtake tracks, as well as some historical photos in the 8 panel fold out and some liner notes and additional comments by none other than Rex Carroll. The repressing will contain a more simpler 4 panel sleeve. All lyrics will be added to the website soon. The original plan was to make this Cd a double disc with 1987 Cornerstone concert available on a 2nd CD but was just not feasible as it would have pushed the project back nearly 6 additional weeks. However will now make it available toward the beginning of next year. Whitecross.

Monday Morning Update

Ok, so I have finally found a deer season that I can hunt. Early muzzleloader. First Shotgun is always the first Sat, Sun, Mon, Tue, & Wed of December. Well Church always schedules stuff on these dates every cotton pickin year. So I decided to just switch seasons. Early muzzleloader season is in mid October, it still is fairly warm & the only pressure on the deer is from the bow hunters. It is a nice peaceful season. Well my brother in law said that he went to get his tag the other day & they are sold out. The whole stinkin state of Iowa is sold out, all 7,500 of them. Well now we are not sure what we are going to do. I think this state is retarded some times. We are one of the most overpopulated states in the United States when it comes to deer. We have insurance companies whining about all the deer, & Iowa is bringing rifles to the state & even a special doe season in November, but do you think Iowa could up the amount of muzzleloader tags. NO. Why would they do a dumb thing like that? While I am all worked up, let’s take on fees. It cost me $52 stinking dollars to hunt deer in Iowa. How about other states nearby, Illinois only $15, Michigan only $15, Minnesota only $27. What the heck is wrong with this state? On muzzleloader alone they make $390,000. Now take into effect two shotgun seasons where we have a few hundred thousand hunters, A bow season, late muzzleloader, & out of state hunters. The state probably makes 4 or 5 million dollars every year on deer alone. Oh well I cant change it, I just have to pay it. We went & sited in my new (well new to me) muzzleloader yesterday. Shoots fairly well at 100 yards hopefully well enough to kill a deer.

We have recently bought a new house, & are in that process of making it your own. The new house is in the country & was empty for like 2 years. My big continuing project has been the yard. It was really over grown. We have taken a ton of truckloads of trees & bushes to the burn pile. I just got a poll saw that extends to like 14 feet. Logan & me tried it out yesterday & it works awesome. We are going to be doing some yard work this weekend while Mommy is away at a conference.

I can hardly wait; the new Whitecross cd is released tomorrow. Hopefully it ships soon after that. I think it is going to be the most listened to album in my iPod.

Hair Bands

Ok so I just rediscovered my roots, 80’s hair bands. That’s right. You say Ryan at 25 you are to young to have caught the hair band era. Oh but I beg to differ. I started early. Whitecross formed in Chicago in 1986, releasing their self-titled heavy metal EP. Regular line-up changes plagued the group virtually from its inception, but the duo of vocalist Scott Wenzel and guitarist Rex Carroll remained constant until 1993 when Rex Carroll split to form King James with two ex-Stryper members. After Rex left, Whitecross continued with just Scott Wenzel, but without Rex it wasn't Whitecross!

I have spent the last 10 years searching high & low, trying to find out how to get a hold of some cd’s of whitecross. After a recent move I rediscovered some old tapes & cd’s. Feeling a little nostalgic I played a few of them & decided to place them on my iPod. Just for kick’s I went to google & searched to see if by any chance I would get lucky & find a cd or two. Well I hit the mother load. I found an official web site http://www.whitecrossmusic.com/ & would you believe that Rex Carroll & Scott Wenzel have joined forces once again for the betterment (if that is a word) of hair bands everywhere. They have gone back to the studio & rerecorded their 1987 album. OH MY GOD, it is amazing. Almost 20 years of talent & technology on their side. Let just say I was as gitty as a school girl. I bet my wife thought I had gone over the deep end. They are even selling their old albums on this site. The plastic came out of my wallet so fast that I think I burnt the leather.

I have some amazing memories from that era. At only 25 I am sure that sound dumb, but it is true. Only 5 more days until the new cd ships. I can hardly wait. Hopefully this is a sign of many better things to come from the best band ever.