The first day back at work after time off is not easy, at least not for me. It never has been. Be it one week, one day, or one hour the slacking instinct takes over and I'm usually ruined for a day or so til I get myself motivated again.
Anyway, not much else is going on around here. I'm just trying to finish up a bunch of little projects that keep cropping up around here. And, of course, at home I'm trying to get everything ship-shape for the Superbowl party.
I just found out today that they have a chili cook-off here at the office. That should be interesting. I like chili, but I don't have an especially good recipe so maybe I'll work on that for next year. I might just bake a cake, although I'm not sure that I want it to get around this office that I make cakes. Otherwise, I might be nominated as resident cake bitch again.

The Dash by Linda Ellis

I read of a reverend who stood to speak
at the funeral of his friend.
He referred to the date
on her tombstone
from the beginning... to the end.

He noted that first came the date of her birth
and spoke of the date with tears
but he said what mattered most of all
was the dash between those years.

For that dash represents all the time
that she spent alive on earth, and
now only those who loved her know
what that little line is worth.

For it matters not how much we own;
the cars, the house, the cash.
What matters is how we lived and loved
and how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard,
Are there things you'd like to change?
For you never know how much time is left
You could be at "dash mid-range"

If we could just slow down enough
to consider what's true and real,
and always try to understand
the way other people feel, and
be less quick to anger,
show appreciation more
and love the people in our life like
we've never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect,
more often wear a smile
remembering that this special dash
might only last a little while.

So when your eulogy is being read
with your life's actions to rehash...
would you be pleased with the things they say
about how you spent your dash?

Sometimes it Snows in April by Prince

Tracy died soon after a long fought civil war,
just after I'd wiped away his last tear
I guess he's better off than he was before,
A whole lot better off than the fools he left here
I used 2 cry 4 Tracy because he was my only friend
Those kind of cars don't pass u every day
I used 2 cry 4 Tracy because I wanted to see him again,
But sometimes sometimes life ain't always the way...

Sometimes it snows in April
Sometimes I feel so bad, so bad
Sometimes I wish life was never ending,
and all good things, they say, never last

Springtime was always my favorite time of year,
A time 4 lovers holding hands in the rain
Now springtime only reminds me of Tracy's tears
Always cry 4 love, never cry 4 pain
He used 2 say so strong unafraid to die
Unafraid of the death that left me hypnotized
No, staring at his picture I realized
No one could cry the way my Tracy cried

Sometimes it snows in April
Sometimes I feel so bad
Sometimes, sometimes I wish that life was never ending,
And all good things, they say, never last

I often dream of heaven and I know that Tracy's there
I know that he has found another friend
Maybe he's found the answer 2 all the April snow
Maybe one day I'll see my Tracy again

Sometimes it snows in April
Sometimes I feel so bad, so bad
Sometimes I wish that life was never ending,
But all good things, they say, never last

All good things that say, never last
And love, it isn't love until it's past

In memory of Dessie Rigo
(December 18th, 1920 - January 25th, 2004)
Devoted Christian, Wife, Mother, Grandmother, Great-Grandmother and Friend.
Loved and missed by all who knew her.

Well, as it turns out there was no need to rush. There's a pretty good chance that I'll be out of touch til early next week. Those that did not get a letter from my attorney dated December 17th, 2003 can feel free to contact me through the usual methods. Everyone else, play in your own sandbox for a while.

Wow, almost missed it. Through a weird bizarre set of circumstances today, I didn't really have enough time to get anything non-work related accomplished. However, I didn't really want to break the streak, so here it is.
It's not much, but I did want to say that I was saddened by the loss of Mr. Carson. The entertainment community is better for having known him, but the loss will be felt for a long time to come.

Today has been an interesting day at work. I've managed to get absolutely nothing accomplished. I've been kind of drifting through the day just skimming from item to item, but never really finishing any one thing. It's nice to have an off-day like this every once in a while. At my old job, days like this used to stack up one on top of the other. After a couple in a row, you run out of things to slack with. Today, I've puttered around all my usual haunts and even caught up with a guy I knew in college. Turns out one of the girls I work with has known him since 4th grade. So, that killed a little time going back and forth on an e-mail string talking about people in common.
And, in a manner of speaking, I caught up with someone that I haven't talked to or thought of since high school. So, it's been an interesting day to say the least.
The AP wire had a story about a mother who was arrested for giving her 4 year old son crack. Yes, that sentence said exactly what you thought it said. Crack to a 4 year old. To calm him down no less. How does giving a drug that's listed as a stimulant calm a kid down? And with that bit of logic thrust aside, how whacked out on crack do you have to be before you decide to give it to your 4 year old kid? It's stories like that that make me sit down and start writing the inner dialogues that I'll one day have to impart to Gage as "parental wisdom". Now I have one labeled, "Don't give your own kids crack, son...it's bad mmmmkay."
Anyway, tomorrow I plan on attending a lecture at the local museum given by a favorite author of mine. Katherine Paterson will be speaking. She's a young adult book author. She wrote one of my favorite books from that period of my life. Bridge to Teribithia. Excellent book. Short, easy read, but well worth it. In fact, that could be the "B" book for Bill's Blog Book Bonanza. The "A" book, for those that missed the comment, was The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo. Another very good book. Now I guess we're up to "C". Nothing immediately jumps to mind so once again I'm open to suggestions. Maybe by the end of 2005, I'll have covered the alphabet and discovered some wonderful new books along the way. I could even re-cap the alphabet for the occasional reader, if there are actually people outside of my own little group reading this blog. And, if there are, introduce yourself. I'd love the chance to visit your pages and discover new things.

Here's a link to the Darth Tater that will be a little more stable than an AP link. I think I need an i-pod so I can take part in all the great lyrics games that are going on. I'm always finding the current round just a little too late. I still manage to get one usually, but it's getting harder.
Anyway, one of the other things that I wanted to mention yesterday, but didn't get a chance was about Drea de Matteo. She turned 32 yesterday. I know that she's supposed to be all made up like that for Joey, but even at live events, I would have bet money that she was on the downslope to 40. Hell, Matt LeBlanc's 37 and I would have bet money she was older than he was. Oh well, can't wait to see her at 50. She can play the oldest living confederate widow.
I also vaguely remember some incoherent thoughts about independent films, but those are gone. I've replaced them with some espresso brownies that a woman in our office made. I'm typing pretty quickly today.
To clear up some things from yesterday, the funeral viewing wasn't for anyone in our family. One of the women that Terri's mom goes to church with lost her mother. So we went down to put in an appearance. We also stopped off to see my parents since my father had hernia surgery yesterday. When were they going to tell me about it? They weren't. Nice, huh?
Oh, and the reason I was comparing Punch Drunk Love to Napoleon Dynamite had something to do with the independent film thread that I can't remember. I will say that I heard good things about both movies and I like one, but hated the other. Hated the other so much it might as well have starred Ben Stiller.

Well I had a great big post all worked out in my head full of newslinks to various idiots and neat things, but today is almost over and I'm not going to get a chance to log on at home due to a funeral so you'll have to deal with a couple of rambling sentences and very few links.
I saw this movie last night. Odd, but interesting. Nowhere near as bad as this piece of crap. I think it had something to do with the fact that I like Jon Gries. He played the Uncle Rico character. He was also in The Pretender and Real Genius. And he had a pretty good characterization down.
If you get a chance, search for the Darth Tater. It'll be well worth it. I'd throw up the link, but it's an AP link and it'll probably be dead before you read it. Anyway, I'm sure there are other things bothering me, but like I said...short and sweet. Though not really sweet. More like mid-length and mildy bitter.

To comment on a comment, I have no problem having this turn into Bill's Blog Book Bonanza. Although I think Michael Landon may have to decline being as how he's dead and all. And, speaking of dead (oh that was almost as bad as Tom's 1984 joke or Susiezy's hair joke) Ruth Warrick died. Now, I know most of who have no idea who she is, but she was the reiging matriarch of All My Children. Yes, a soap opera. Oddly enough, although it doesn't happen very often anymore, but soap operas seem to respect the elder generation. Now, I didn't watch All My Children, but I had seen enough articles in Soap Opera Digest to know who she was and how much she meant to the show. On my own shows, Anna Lee was a cornerstone for General Hospital for many many years until she passed on early in 2004. And, Frances Reid has been on Days so long, I'm not even sure if she remembers when she started. These women (and in most cases their now deceased on-screen husbands) formed the basis for a genre that, although shrinking, still manages to draw millions upon millions of viewers each and every day. And, I'd be more than happy to put up their talent against some of the morons that are considered Hollywood's up and coming. No real end to this rant, just another sad passing of one a genre's legends.
My parent's babysat Gage yesterday since his daycare was closed for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and both Terri and I had to work. So, Terri went down after she got off work to pick him up and bring him home. That meant that I had no reason to rush home, since the house would be empty, so I headed straight to Rite-Aid to print out pictures from the latest disc from my digital camera.
Most of the pictures were from Christmas and other assorted-related activities. I have a shot of an adult (though I use that term loosely) receiving a child's toy that she requested. I also have a shot of me putting on my new (and I use that term loosely as well) license plate. So, I placed the order, about 150 pictures in all, and the saleswoman asked if I was going to wait. They've got a new souped-up machine and big orders like that only take 15 or so minutes now. So, I decided to browse around the store.
I picked up some random items; candy bars that were on sale, a Vanity Fair with a Star Wars article, some disposable bibs for Gage. Then I started to walk around the big selection of Valentine's Day candy. I wasn't feeling like I needed to rant about it since it is now less than one month away. I'm sure they've had it up since New Year's, but that's a different story. Anyway, I walked around to the other side of the aisle to more candy, bears, etc. I saw something that scared me pretty badly. It was a huge chocolate heart with a big 24 stamped right into the middle of it. Yes, apparently Jeff Gordon and Nascar want you to be their valentine. They also had Tony Stewart and several other drivers. So, I'm standing there shaking my head and that's when I noticed the "adult" section. They had fuzzy dice that had "kiss" on one side, "rub" on another side...you get the picture. Spencer's has always had a selection of stuff like this. Things you might pick up as a gag gift for a bachelor/bachelorette party. Now, these dice weren't quite as explicit as the ones in Spencer's, but I was in a Rite-Aid. Then I noticed the "love-cuffs". Yup, cheap as hell tiny red plastic handcuffs. I couldn't help it. I started laughing. Thankfully my pictures were done and I was able to get out of the store with most of my dignity intact. And, I got a nice bonus. The cashier, a younger girl...most likely high school, rang in the coupon wrong. So, instead of getting my first 5 pictures for one dollar, I get each set of 5 pictures for one dollar. Yes, she rang in the coupon 30 times. So, I saved a crap load on my picture developing yesterday evening. Almost enough to make me go back and buy the "love-cuffs".

Today has been one of those days where I've been working and moving non-stop all day, but I can't really give you a good description of anything I've gotten accomplished.
This weekend, which was supposed to be full of activity, dwindled to sitting in the house attempting to stay warm. Last week, I walked from work to the 7-11 and back (a little over 1/2 mile), in just jeans and a polo-shirt. No jacket, no gloves, no hat. Today, I made the same trip, bundled in a winter jacket, hat, gloves and a hood and I was still cold. It was single digits here in Pittsburgh today. Last week it was almost 70. That's not a good swing, unless you're on the other end. I wouldn't mind waking up to 70 tomorrow.
Anyway, I noticed in my last post about books that there were some really good suggestions. I'm always open to book suggestions and if I had more time, I'd probably be in a book group or two.
Not much else is going on in Pittsburgh after the huge collective sigh of relief from the outcome of Saturday's game. I believe I saw the Jets Kicker's resume on Monster this morning. And, if things had gone the other way, it probably would have been bundled with Jeff Reed's resume.
Not that I really care. Only about a month or so til Nascar starts up again. This week Pennsylvania is the football capital of the world. The Steelers are hosting their division game and the Eagles are hosting their division game. All eyes are on the Keystone state this week. And with the potential for a turnpike superbowl (although with the game in Florida, I'm not sure how that's possible), I'm sure the Governor is readying some sort of speech. Although within moments of the end of the games, regardless of the turnout, no one will be looking at Pennsylvania for anything.

For the past several days now, I've keep forgetting to blog about the fact that I finally finished Uncle Tom's Cabin.
Now, just to give you a little background...When I hit college and started looking around and comparing myself to my supposed peers, I felt that in my chosen field of writing/literature/english/communications, etc. I was vastly under-educated throughout my life to that point. So, I made myself a little promise to go back and read some of the books that I wanted to read, should have read, or thought I should have read. Now, granted...I mix them up. A classic here, a Stephen King novel there, a thriller, a Danielle Steel novel, another classic, etc. I don't think I could handle straight literature over and over. Anyway, as soon as I graduated I had a job downtown and I ended up taking the bus back and forth quite a bit. Well, the best thing to do on the bus is read...or count drunk people, but that doesn't take too long. So, I started with Moby Dick. That almost killed the whole thing right there. The short story is that Moby Dick is crap.
Anyway, I finally finished Uncle Tom's Cabin and realized that Stowe was a bit of a racist herself. Perhaps not in a strict black/white way, but she tended to glorify the slaves that were of a Christian persuasion and marginalize those that were not "God-fearing". I was also under the impression that the gist of the story was that Tom was a slave with a well-to-do family who treated him well. The family hit financial trouble and had to sell Tom down south. He was bought by Simon Legree and basically beaten and tortured to death slowly and inhumanely (although torture and death are rarely humane) throughout the rest of the book. He didn't even meet Legree until 300 pages into the book. Hell, up until that point, he was having a better life than I've had. So, another work of enduring literature that I didn't really care for. One day I'd like to find one that is worth giving a good review. One perhaps that I might recommend or even re-read in the most extreme cases.
Anyway, to kind of cleanse myself I read The Five People You Meet In Heaven that I borrowed from Susiezy. It was a quick read so now I've finished two books in the first two weeks of the year. I like it.
The Albom book was enjoyable and in some ways thought provoking. It kind of makes you think about life in general. I wasn't all that impressed with the neat, tidy wrap-up, but it's a happy-feely book so that's ok.
Tomorrow if it isn't too cold to breathe outside, we're headed over to our friend Robin's house to watch the playoff game and visit.

Well, we did it. Took all five programs live. Felt pretty good about it too. Now that's over, and I have another desk full of stuff that need to be done.
I also got a little filing cabinet that I had ordered to try and keep my desk in a slightly neater state. I have to find the time to put it together. That should make for an interesting time filler at some point today or tomorrow.
It's a good thing I waited til this afternoon to post. I learned something today that chilled me to my very soul. All this time that I've known Susiezy and she has never, I repeat NEVER, seen any of the Die Hard movies. NEVER! EVER! How is that humanly possible? That's like someone our age saying they've never seen the Star Wars movies. (Don't laugh, a girl I worked with at Lycos had never seen them.) Scary stuff. Although it goes a long way to explain things.
Very little is going on around here. Although we were fighting with our insurance company and our pediatricians office. In the months leading up to having Gage, our insurance sprung on us at the last moment that the deductible was per calendar year. Since we were pregnant August-May everything paid August-December didn't really count toward the deductible. So it started all over again in January. So, I started investigating every little contingency that might come up. Knowing that a baby can't pop out into instantaneous insurance coverage, I called Terri's doctors, the University's benefits office, and my insurance who all said the same thing. A newborn is covered under the parent's insurance for the first 31 days of life. Why then, if everyone knows this information, did we receive a bill for $325.00 for visits to Gage as a newborn in the hospital? Because no one knows what the hell they are doing apparently. The doctor's office tried to bill Gage's insurance who, after 4 months, told them that was a mistake. So they tried to bill my insurance who, after about 4 months, told them that was a mistake as well. A newborn is covered under the mother's insurance. Everyone seems to know this, but they still screwed it up. I just don't get it. It's beyond me apparently. My world revolves around some semblence of logic and their world apparently doesn't.
I guess that's the end of the saga for today.

Today has been pretty busy. We have a potential to take 5 programs live today just from our group. That's a pretty good record around here. So far, we've got four out of five and I've been going back and forth with the client trying to get the fifth one ready.
This weekend marks the beginning of the playoffs for the Steelers. I hold a mild interest in the playoffs for football simply because of the Superbowl party we host every year. I know, why do I host a party for a sport I don't like? The short answer is...because I could care less about the game and I'm a better host because of it. The long answer is...well too long. Ask Tom maybe he'll tell you how it all started.
There are only two days left before a potential cancellation of an entire hockey season. I just can't believe that that might happen. I can't believe they would be that dumb. Somewhere in that league, someone with power must actually still give a crap about the game itself instead of the paycheck.
I'm considering both of these devices. The music one basically so I can participate in all the song memes that are going on around me. And, I would love to have a Mac again. Mac was my first computer and I do miss it so.
As noted yesterday we did end up at the Warners' house for dinner. Katie is very cautious in her walking so a lot of the time she'll just crawl because it's faster. Now I know how that attitude makes it to adulthood. You know the right way to do something, but you always take the shortcut or the easy way out because it requires less energy and you already know how to do it.
Dinner was delicious as always and we got to spend some time with friends we don't get to see a lot. I can e-mail or IM them pretty much everyday, but actual face to face time is rare. Hopefully we can change that in 2005.
And, we celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr. day. Or Martin Luther Jr King day as it almost was.

Well, I did end up having a little extra time here at work today. So, I'll use that to throw up a short post. We're headed to the Warner's house tonight for dinner so I won't be home much of the evening. I'm told Katie has taken some steps so we'll see how well she's walking this evening. She's between 5 and 6 months older than Gage so it's interesting to see the differences between the two right now. Then in a couple of years, those gaps will close to almost nothing and you won't even be able to tell there is an age difference.
I'm trying to figure out why I spent all that good money on a formal wedding with family and friends in attendance. I could have just went to Vegas and got married by none other than MC Hammer. Don't believe me? Check this out. All I can say about that wedding is, Can't touch this. I wonder if he made everyone call him Rev. Hammer?
Speaking of weddings, we dismissed a lot of the things considered "traditional" at weddings that we've attended, dj'd, sung at, etc. Terri and I had been to enough weddings and planned long enough for our own that we were able to personalize almost every aspect of the service from the selection of her dress to the personalized wedding favors and crayons for the kids. This story puts a whole new slightly "creepy" spin on the personalization of things. It bothered me more than a little, mostly, because I've actually put thought into my own...um...ending. Being very pop culture minded, I've scripted most aspects of my life including the end. Now, apparently I can make it happen just the way I want it to. I shouldn't have that much power after I'm dead. I think if they just want to throw me in a box and set me on fire, they should be able to. But, hey...that's just one man talking, or in this case typing.

Busy weekend. Friday night I went out after work to celebrate the launch of a huge project that I only had minimal dealings with. It was interesting. This is the first time I've been out socially with my new office. Now, not everyone went, which is a good indication of certain behaviors to begin with, but those that did go, I can now see in a whole new light.
I found that my work has greatly improved and they are very happy with me, thus far. Which means that I might actually become a better employee and stop slacking off so much. I've actually been meaning to find time at home to update instead of doing it at work. Don't get me wrong, I have no problems with doing it at work, but there are a lot of interruptions. Although, there are a lot of interruptions at home too. Such is my life.
Saturday we had to go out and get some shopping down since we were down to very little food in the house. So, we headed out and ended up hitting two bookstores, a mall, Costco, Best Buy, and K-Mart. Good day all around. Long, but good.
Saturday night into Sunday, Gage didn't sleep well, which meant we didn't sleep well. I woke up feeling a little congested and we rushed around trying to get ready for church. Gage was crying and being generally fussy and by the time we drove up to the church we were already 10 minutes late and we ended up simply skipping church altogether. I know it's not a good thing to do, but it doesn't happen often.
So, we drove around for a little while til Gage got settled down. Then we headed to one of those starving artist shows that you see advertised on TV all the time. It wasn't worth it. I thought they would have an interesting selection, but a good portion of the pieces were basically the same and by the same I mean crap.
After that was so unsuccessful, we had breakfast at the hotel where the sale was going on and then went home to see if we could nap a little before heading down to see some friends of ours.
Terri got to nap and Gage got to nap. I didn't get to nap. I think we need a bigger bed. So, after a couple hours we headed out to run a few last minute errands and then head down to see some friends of ours to exchange Christmas gifts. Wendy and Chris have two kids, Bela and Evan. Bela is 5 and she is adorable. I don't envy Chris when she comes up on the dating age. It's a good thing he has a lot of guns. Evan is almost 3 and boy is he lightning fast. I hadn't even set the present down in front of him and he had opened it, assessed it, and moved on to the next thing. And, he's not only methodical, but very anal about cleaning up. He made sure all the wrapping paper was thrown away and all the toys were put away. I'm thinking of paying him to give lessons to Terri and Gage.
So, after his sleepless night on Saturday and the big day of activity on Sunday, we figured he'd drift off easily and sleep most of the night. Ha! At a little after 4, I finally took over for Terri. Now, I'm accustomed to being awake for long stretches. I once went from Friday of truck weekend to Sunday of race day with only 3 half-hour naps. So, I calmed him down and finally got him to sleep next to me on the floor in his bedroom for a couple of hours so all was not lost. And, he'll probably spend the entire day playing at daycare with no naps and be fine this evening. Terri will be dragging and I may need an extra cup of coffee to propel me through the afternoon. Ok, that's enough for today I guess.

Today is kind of dragging at work. I certainly have enough to keep me busy, but I'm just not in the mood to do any of it. Now, this feeling certainly isn't new...I used to deal with this every day at the University I worked at. Here, it's a rarity. I think it's because of the dreary nature of today. Although at the moment it isn't raining. Which is a good thing since it's started flooding in places again.
I found several things during my normal daily activities that I think I'm going to share.
This scared the crap out of me. Is there anyone who didn't get one of these albums? Nelson's career spanned a total of 3 albums I think. And only one had any hits on it. Although I guess if you count this one, it will be four albums. Ok, let's back-peddle a little. I decided to pause and look it up just in case. Nelson has made 7 albums PLUS the 20th Century Masters. Although I was correct in the fact that really only one of them had hits come off the disc. Either way, I don't think they need a Masters disc.
I also saw this little list. I'm not buying this as an accurate depiction. No where on the Harris poll does it have a choice for sex. Which I'm guessing would take precedence over several of these other activities for a lot of Americans. I'm just sayin'.
And this just pissed me off. Nevermind the fact that as a little punk kid he probably shouldn't be driving period, but the quote at the end should be enough to have the keys removed from his hands for life. And, if he must drive, he should be behind the wheel of a four cylinder ford escort or something similar. And, before he gets the keys back to anything, he should be beaten severely for the cloths in that picture, and the hat, and the fact that he's related to a backstreet boy, and just a good ass-kicking in general.
I guess that's enough for today. I keep getting interrupted and I really do need to get some actual work done.

Thought this seemed like a good way to kill a few minutes and recall some wonderful song lyrics.

Bands // Song Titles
Created by BourdiezFreak and taken 18250 times on bzoink!
Choose a band/or artist and answer only in song TITLES by that band:	Barry Manilow
Are you female or male:	I'm Your Man
Describe yourself:	I Write The Songs
How do some people feel about you:	Last Duet
How do you feel about yourself:	Ready To Take A Chance Again
Describe your ex girlfriend/boyfriend:	When I Wanted You
Describe your current girlfriend/boyfriend:	Can't Smile Without You
Describe where you want to be:	Somewhere Down The Road
Describe what you want to be:	Looks Like We Made It
Describe how you live:	The Kid Inside
Describe how you love:	Beautiful Music
Share a few words of wisdom:	Even Now
Create a Survey | Search Surveys | Go to bzoink!

And I liked the first one so much, I did two.

Bands // Song Titles
Created by BourdiezFreak and taken 18248 times on bzoink!
Choose a band/or artist and answer only in song TITLES by that band:	Billy Joel
Are you female or male:	An Innocent Man
Describe yourself:	The Ballad of Billy The Kid
How do some people feel about you:	Angry Young Man
How do you feel about yourself:	Summer, Highland Falls
Describe your ex girlfriend/boyfriend:	Christie Lee
Describe your current girlfriend/boyfriend:	I've Loved These Days
Describe where you want to be:	Scenes From An Italian Restaurant
Describe what you want to be:	Big Shot
Describe how you live:	My Life
Describe how you love:	Honesty
Share a few words of wisdom:	Miami 2017 (Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway)
Create a Survey | Search Surveys | Go to bzoink!

Yesterday at the end of the day I had a little time to kill so I decided to try a little experiment. You'll notice that in the upper right hand corner of this page, there's a little button that says, "Next Blog". Now it's not the same blog attached to that button everytime and it's pretty random what you're going to end up with, but I decided yesterday to see how many clicks it took to get to a site with porn on it. It took...one! Yup, one click took me to this site which if you venture there yourself you can see is dedicated to adult themed entertainment. It's actually a pretty decent site. So, although it didn't take the amount of time I thought it would, my little experiment was a rousing success.
This article, which I lifted off of Tom's site sent me into a nice foul mood this morning. I can't believe the outright hypocrisy of the Catholic church sometimes. Especially when it manifests itself this blatantly. If Catholics took the time to actually read the Bible (you know, the book your faith is supposedly based on) they would notice that in John 8:7 it plainly says, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." I would like to know how many children enrolled at that particular Catholic school come from divorced parents, parents who practice birth control methods other than the natural ways approved by the church, and people who weren't married in a Catholic church. I'd also like to sit down with Monica Sii (after resisting the overwhelming urge to slap her in the face) and ask why she enrolled her children in that school. The common answer from the Catholic schools around my hometown and current residence is "a better education". Not a religious education per se, but a better education. Most of the public schools are a haven for drugs, crime, etc. and parents see this as a better education alternative. I personally know several sets of parents who joined the Catholic church, sent their children to Catholic school, had their children graduate, and then left the church altogether. Most Catholics gather once a week inside their church because they have to. Religion should be about wanting to. God wanted to give humanity a savior. God didn't "have" to send his son, he did it because he wanted to. I hope that one day Monica's mind will open just a crack to let in the thought that maybe these two gentlemen love their sons as much as a "Catholic" parent and simply want a better education for their them.
Sorry, I didn't mean to rant for so long. It's not good to get me started on the whole Catholic thing. If having gay friends and relatives and accepting that part of "our" yes "our" culture means I'm doomed to spend eternity in hell in the eyes of Catholics then so be it. God and I know better.

There's not much going on today. Terri and Gage were rushing out of the house as soon as I woke up so that he could go get the other half of his flu shot. It's been raining since, well actually...it has rained every day this year. I didn't get nearly the amount of things done yesterday that I wanted to get done. We also witnessed the little one grabbing onto the railing in his crib to try and sit himself up. That means I need to add one more project to the list and lower his mattress so he doesn't hoist himself right out of bed one day. I'd hate to see him trying to hobble around on tiny little crutches.
Today will be the first time he has a non-family member babysitting. Well, ok, without counting daycare. My ex-girlfriend's sister works with Terri and she's going to take the little one for a few hours before I get home while Terri is with her client this evening. I'm sure he'll do fine.
Everything has been rather dreary to start the year and I guess since I have the excuse, I'll blame it on the rain. (Wow, that phrase brought back some weird flashbacks.)
I'll end the post a little early today since I have nothing constructive to say. Maybe you have something constructive you'd like to say to me?

Well, I know I said that I would look up the information on just how long I've been waiting for the license plates to arrive. Last night I actually remembered. I wrote a check to Carnegie Mellon on September 6th, 2002. The license plates arrived at my house on December 29th, 2004. 2 years 114 days after I signed the check. At this point, It's only been 2 years 84 days since the wedding. I still have a month left before the time even begins to equal out. I did put the plate on the car on January 1st, although I haven't taken the time to see what we need to do about Terri's plate yet.
My hope is that I can get home tonight and keep my motivation at a high level and finish a good portion of the small nagging projects around the house. I would like 2005 to go much smoother than 2004 did. We were caught with too much to do, not enough time or resources to do it, and the stress that went along with all of that. So, hopefully we can change that incrementally throughout 2005. Although, at some point in the future I expect mass chaos for the whole house thing. But, it's possible that won't occur til 2006, I guess it all depends on how 2005 goes.
I'm also thinking about tackling five other big projects that I've put on hold a little too long so maybe I won't have any motivation when I get home tonight. Sometimes the thought of all that's looming just serves as a demotivation tactic.

Well, I finally finished watching this. I was a little disappointed in the last two episodes. I get the fact that the show was cancelled and everything can't be wrapped up in a neat little tidy bow. However, my biggest complaint was the fact that you could see the big reveal coming from the first planting of the seed. I did like the wrap-up in the control room, but other than that it was very sub-standard writing compared to the rest of the show. Anyway, that little comment aside I was very impressed with the show as a whole. I'm not sure how I would have liked it with commercials and a week's break in-between, but you never know.
I'm trying to figure out why crap like Survivor, Fear Factor, Punk'd, The Bachelor/Bachelorette, and Wife Swap stay on the air and garner ratings and advertising money when smartly written, entertaining shows that actually make a contribution to mankind (other than wanting to sterilize all of the people on those shows to make certain they can't reproduce) can't seem to last more than a season or two. I often wonder how some of the long lasting shows from the past, M*A*S*H, Cheers, I Love Lucy, All In The Family, etc. would do nowadays.
Oh well, I hope everyone had a decent new year. Gage woke up about three or four minutes before midnight so we got to ring in our first new year as a family.
I did get some interesting news. Terri and I had a wedding in 2002. We had it out of the town we lived in so all our arrangements had to be made long distance. Terri and I did lots of travel and made lots of phone calls. Everything at and around the wedding site went beautifully, arrangement-wise. The few arrangements that we made in Pittsburgh seemed to go ok with one glaring exception. Wedding World. I won't go into any kind of rant about them mostly because I'd still be here typing next new years. They were the worst service oriented store that I've ever dealt with. They were horrible. And, with karma doing it's thing, they have declared bankruptcy, have court hearings pending, and lots of legal problems and all of their stores have shut down. What a wonderful holiday present. I don't want to wish ill things upon them, but this they brought all on themselves.
Oh and a couple of parting shots before I sign off...1) Hopefully the U.S. can pull a bronze medal out of the World Junior hockey tournament after failing to successfully defend their gold medal performance from last year. 2) And, when you are reading (or in some cases re-reading) your favorite author this year, remember that there are better authors available...both published and unpublished and they'd love a read through too. You may discover that you have a new favorite or even better a good book to recommend to a friend. Here's to a more literate 2005.