The Product

A few years ago, I bought something. It is something that most people have, maybe not the same make or model, but it is typically something that most people can’t live without. I took a little time to investigate which model/manufacturer I wanted and spoke with various owners of various products. Some exclaimed there product to be the best while other acknowledged they were not as happy with theirs and may consider a replacement model. After a few months of researching, I decided on what I thought I wanted.

My next move was to speak to the salesmen. It was somewhat of an MLM approach, people signed up under others which in the end would benefit the seller and those up the management chain, etc. I didn’t realize that at the time, but I was told that I could still gain all the benefits of the product and be happy with it even if I didn’t choose to become a dealer. I made sure to ask the salesmen a lot of questions when I met with them, making sure that the product was what I truly wanted. They answered me honestly, showing me product materials and pamphlets explaining all of the benefits. There were yearly maintenance fees and a sizeable owners manual but I was assured that the product was the best on the market. It was a product that would never fail me and would be able to be handed down for generations. I was skeptical at the time as nothing ever seems to be so perfect. I pushed further and asked more questions based on some possible issues I already saw with the product. I was assured that if I ran into a problem, I could simply refer to the owners manual or many of the addendum manuals that have since been produced to address concerns. This product was the best of its kind on the market. Unlike others, it did not have unnecessary functions or an endless stream of modifications. It was based on simplicity and functionality, performing only the basic of functions to conduct its overall purpose. After thinking it over for a few weeks, I decided to go forward and make a purchase.

For years, the product had served me well. It did exactly what the salesmen said it would do. A couple of times I would hit a little snag with using it, but as soon as I did I simply referred to the owners manual or one of the many addenda (conveniently online) for clarification and the problems were solved. I gladly paid my annual maintenance fee, which insured me that I would have full product support from the corporation in the future. Everything seemed to be going great.

Then it happened. I found a problem with the product. It was something I was already aware of when I made my initial decision, but the salesmen assured me that it was nothing. It was something that came with the product that you never used but was never removed from its design. It was still incorporated into it, albeit dormant, capable of being used in the future if desired. I asked about what actually happened when the product was used in that manner in the past. When it was first introduced to the market it caused some problems and actually even hurt some people, but the inventors got its use under control and decided to render it useless later after it was determined it was not really performing any useful function. “Could it ever be used again”, I asked? Certainly they said, but they saw no reason for it. “Is there anyway to buy it without this problem”, I asked. “Not from our company”, they responded.

My product was still functioning with this flaw in it, but the question is would the flaw ever end up resulting harming me or my family. I asked other owners about their feelings on it. Most had only heard of the problems in passing, but never gave it much thought. Others knew of the problems but chose to do nothing. They simply stated that if it became a problem in the future, they would deal with it then. Others outright confronted the Corporation, who at times reluctantly admitted to the problem’s existence but downplayed its relevance. On this function, the owners manual contradicted itself. Some owners simply got rid of their product all together, sometimes buying a replacement and other times choosing to live without the convenience.

As time continues, more and more problems with my product seem to arise and I seem to use it less and less. It has come to the point where I sometimes regret owning it altogether. Some are minor issues that can be easily addressed, but others are serious flaws that could possibly harm me or my children. As I find new problems, I find the same pattern exists from the Corporation. In some cases, they have gone as far to hide the problems or just outright deny they exist. As my frustration elevates and uncovering of defects continues, I must make a decision, do I keep the product or get rid of it? It is something we can live without, but should we? What would you do?

Life of an Obese Man

Last week, we celebrated my wife’s 28th birthday and for her gift, at her request, I purchased her the WiiFit accessory. While my wife wanted it to help her exercise more, the impact of this new device in my home has been life changing. Shortly after opening it and watching her fumble around on the stepboard for a few minutes, I was next to stand up and be....evaluated.

As I stepped onto the Wii board, the creepy electronic voice repeated itself. “Measuring, Measuring, Measuring, All Done”. My individualized mii appeared and the scale went skyward. As my BMI settled on obese, I could not longer deny who I really am.

The results of this test have inspired me to change my life. My new goal is 50 pounds by the end of the year. I am tired of living a healthy life and its time to live up to the full measure of who I really am, which is an obese man. I can slap on those pounds with my eyes shut....which they will be with every bite of cheesecake that I savor. So long cherry tomatoes--hello cherry flavored candies. So long wholesome fruits and veggies–hello whole boxes of donuts. In addition to changing my eating habits, it’s time for me to change my physical activities level as well. Instead of long walks–long naps. Instead of hiking the mountain, I’ll be devouring mountains of chips. Some day I will run a marathon too, a movie marathon that is. Here’s to Girth!!!!

By the way, I was only 24 for my wii fit age. Take that obesity.

(No photos were used in this post out of consideration for Ol'Beardy's Lunch)

Long Way Round 3

Sometime last year, I posted about Long Way Round, the documentary where two actors traveled around the world on motorcycles. While I would love to take a similar trip, I have to settle for what I can get. A few weeks ago, the Patriarch and I set out on a 17 mile round trip on a scooter and a mountain bike with a 70 cc engine. We documented our trip and after much demand, I put it all together. The video is in two clips (thanks to youtube policy). Enjoy!

My Personal Terror Alert Level Has Been Elevated to Red

Last night, my wife and I sat down to the five minute news recap at 10 and then I was off to get a shower.  As I came out of our bedroom to head to the bathroom, Molly, our big outside dog, started to bark.  Molly has discernible barks.  I can normally tell when she wants something, like water, or when someone is at our door, or when a neighbor dog is running by, etc.  This bark sounded like someone was outside and I walked to our living room window to see who.  I expected to see some teenagers walking down the street.  As I drew the curtain back to the living room window, I saw a person standing inside our fence on our patio near our living room window.  He saw me, turned, and ran.  I quickly moved to our front door and looked out.  I expected to see the man jump our front fence or run out of our gate but instead he ran around to the other side of our house.  I quickly moved to our bedroom, obtained a sidearm, and went out the back door.  I rounded the corner of the house, didn't see anyone, and then went up to the higher level of our rear yard.  With my gun drawn, I scanned the upper street to see where the man may have run.  As I scanned, I looked down towards the rear of my home and saw a person laying on the ground behind my kids swimming pool.  He was trying to hide between the pool and the wall of our house, or so he thought, but he wasn't aware I saw him.  I yelled, telling him to stay where he was, identify himself, and explain his reason for being there.  He didn't respond.  I called out again and again, no response.  I yelled to my wife to call the police immediately.  The man started to get up, I yelled out that he needed to stay where he was and identify himself.  He responded this time.  I knew him.  He goes to our church.   

He wasn't there to steal something. He wasn't there to knock on our door and run away like kids do.  He was there to try to look into our windows to see what he could see.  Most likely, my wife. (I'm holding out hope he has a thing for me, just kidding)  My neighbor returned home as I was questioning the man and like any good neighbor, he came over to assist (with his sidearm of course).  My neighbor had a police radio and called down to the sheriff's to report a home invasion.  They said they would be there in a whopping 30 minutes.  We waited, kept an eye on our temporary prisoner, and didn't allow him to move.  He came towards the both of us several times, trying to apologize and offer his hand, but we refused.  In addition to trying to look into our home, he smelled of alcohol.   He kept the excuses coming.  After about 40 minutes, four sheriffs arrived expecting to get information on what had happened and then to track down the criminal.  Then my neighbor informed them that I was holding the perpetrator in the back yard.  They seemed surprised and pleased.  I knew the man was on probation and knew he would be arrested and go to jail.  They cuffed him and hauled him off. 

From what I have learned, this isn't the first time the man has peeped but it is the first time he was caught and arrested for it.  I was up all night, adrenaline running, but in the end, it was good to know that my dog has my back and that we have wonderful and supportive neighbors.(A second neighbor came over to watch the arrest)  Justice is served.

The Garden

Over the past few weeks, my family and I have been working tocomplete our garden fence and get things planted.  I thought I would post a few pics of what we've done so far.  Hopefully, the fence will keep the deer out and we can actually harvest a few goodies this year.  As you can see in the one picture, the fence posts are quite high since my wife is 5'3".  The area surrounded by blocks is the pumpkin patch.  The tire with soil will hopefully produce some nice potatoes.   The closeup shot are buttercrunch lettuce.  

Hartman, Hartman, You Suck!

This past weekend, I took my two older kids to a Real Salt Lake game in Sandy. They played the Kansas City Wizards and unfortunately lost. I don't typically like professional sports but football has always been one sport I could watch on TV or live. It was nice to see my kids get excited and cheer for the home team too. They even participated in the goalie taunt, as noted in the title of this post. Now if I could only find a way to get them to stop the taunt.

I'm looking for you!

Winter has finally died and spring is here in her full glory. With this warm weather comes the droves of weekend vacationers heading to spots westward where they can enjoy nature for what it is. Not me though, I stay local. I rarely venture more than 15 miles from home, hiking in the canyons I know or would like to know. Earlier this year, when the final battle between winter and spring were taking place, I started hiking again. I love to hike and see the world with my kids, alone, with friends, etc. But, I am tired of seeing what nature has become. This year, I have decided to collect every beer and soda can I find while I am out hiking. So far, I have three full garbage bags in which all cans are smashed. I picked cans because they stand out more. They shine, rarely move, and seem to have accumulated throughout the years. Paper and plastic wrappers blow away and beer bottles get broken and ground into the dirt. At the end of the year, I will take these cans down to the metal recycling joint near work and see how much I get. Who knows, thanks to all the many jerks that decided nature is a trash can, I can retire early.

For an interesting read from other people that collect other things of value that people discard and walk over without thinking twice, click here.

Relaxation Eurekanite Style

Yesterday was my oldest child's birthday and it is hard to believe the my first child is now 8 years old. As part of his birthday, I offered to take him out in the afternoon for some dad time. I took him, and his 4 year old brother that begged to tag along, out to some hot springs about 45 minutes from town. There are some concrete tubs out there that were poured decades ago, but still serve their purpose. So there we were, out in the middle of nowhere, up to our necks in 100 degree water relaxing, drinking sodas, and munching down on swedish fish. Please note as my 4 year old found out, swedish fish do not swim.

The Wood Pile

Following the well deserved death of the plastic piece of mechanical failures I called my chainsaw, I managed to have the money to afford a new Stihl MS310 chainsaw. For those of you who don't know what the name and model mean, Stihl means reliable and quality and MS310 means power and strength. Trees quake as I approach and meet a quick death, where before, they laughed as I worked for hours to slowly remove their limbs. Now that I have a new saw, I can get a truck load of wood in about 2 hours and that is cedar wood which is hard to cut. Here is a picture of my kids on our woodpile. Note the shed in the rear is also loaded with firewood. So far, we haven't touched the wood in the shed and there is plenty of my pile left. It's so nice to have a warm house without paying the gas company to run my furnace.

Muscle Museum

Just another song that I like. Merry Christmas everyone.

My own list

At the very moment I am writing this, families all across America are giving thanks for the many things in their life that they feel they have been blessed with. I am grateful for more than I could ever list, but I have a short list of things I will never give thanks for. The following list is comprised of things that, if they were no longer a part of my life or didn't exist in the world at all, I wouldn't shed a tear. Here it goes:

1. Rachel Ray
2. Diabetes
3. LDS related Bathroom Graffiti (i.e. CTR scribbled on the stall wall)
4. The individual that used the seat of the toilet in the men's gym locker room at work as the toilet
5. 3 Musketeers bars
6. Reality TV shows
7. Monosodium Glutamate (gives me headaches)
8. Diet Mt. Dew
9. Couples that should have never procreated
10. Sizzler Steakhouses

Now that it's over

Over the past few months, I have been the unlucky recipient of the annoying politically charged emails that have been circulating around the web. These emails always came from two people that I know, one coworker, one friend. I seriously wonder how many people took these emails seriously but here is what I learned:

Email 1: Barack Obama is a muslim terrorist in disguise. His past times include the following: killing babies, spreading socialism, hanging out with terrorists, practicing Islam, hating America, burning our flag, fulfilling the prophecies of the Book of Revelations by being the AntiChrist, meeting secretly with foreign leaders that hate America, as well as many other unwholesome and anti-American activities.

Email 2: Our right to bear arms is granted by the Constitution but some political persons (see email paragraph 1) want to take that away from us. It won't be long until we are all required to place our guns into a smelter at the center of every town, built with funds from a recent bailout of the smelting industry. We should have no gun laws whatsoever, according to these emails, and if anyone ever tries to take them away from me, I should fight back. Everyone should be able to own a gun. No one is exempt. And if that gun happens to double as a grenade launcher, you're more patriotic than your neighbor.

The most frustrating part of these emails would be that these individuals would then approach me and say, "Did you get the email I sent you?" If I say no, they send it and ask again. If I say yes, they respond with, "Can you believe that?" To which my response was often, "do you believe everything you get in an email?" Sadly, I think they do.

Another thing I won't miss is the uncomfortable nature of living in a republican state when my viewpoints don't agree with the majority of those I associate with. I almost daily am approached by those that assume, that do to the religious organization I belong to, I would adamantly fight against, democrats, liberal viewpoints, and Proposition 8 in California. By the way, my family and I were asked, by our Church, to phone several hundred people in California to encourage them to vote for the proposition. We declined the invitation.

Finally, not related to the time of the year, please don't talk on your cell phone while using the bathroom. I am tired of walking in on you and hearing your conversation from the stall.

русский

So someday, in my wildest dreams, I would love to travel the world. I want to do so on a motorcycle with my wife sitting behind me. I doubt I will ever have enough money to see all of the world, but maybe some of it. One place I want to go is Russia and ride through Siberia and the Altay region. Recently, I have been trying to learn Russian so that I can speak to people once we make it there. At this point, we can depart in about 30 years. Enjoy a pic of the Altay region.

Next Year's Garden

Next year, the wife and I have an ambitious garden planned.  We are hoping to have up an 8-10 foot fence to keep the deer out and have a small chicken coop for some hens.  We already built the compost bins, as evidenced above in the photography with the woman.

Political thoughts

I don't want my blog to be a political one, but I want to share some of my thoughts on this upcoming election. As some of you may have read in my previous posts, I was planning to vote for Barack Obama. That hasn't changed, but, I haven't felt so upbeat about the future of the election as I once did. VP choices have left me wandering a little, so here are my thoughts.

I am not so certain about Joe Biden. If I allow geographic determinism to rule my thoughts, I am fine. Biden was born in Pennsylvania and lived in Delaware. I was born in Pennsylvania and love Delaware, so naturally, I would be attracted to him. Biden and Obama tend to vote very similarly on most issues, which may sound like a great thing, but I was hoping that Obama would chose someone that would balance out his ticket a little more. Instead, it is like I am voting for Baroe Obiden.

Then come Sarah Palin. Well, I was surprised to hear McCain picked her but I think that he may have made a wise choice. One thing McCain lacked for me on a personal level was a personality. Everything sounds so canned, so rehearsed. Palin is an excellent speaker in comparison to him and has the ability to captivate audiences in a way he could only dream of. She is also more conservative which seems to balance out his ticket. In the end though, the election will be the same as all other elections. Personal attacks, mudslinging, and empty promises.

That's why I have devised the perfect solution: The McCain/Obama Superticket. Here's how it works:

McCain and Obama would share the power as co-presidents. Palin and Biden would do the same as co-vice presidents. Ralph Nader would be honorary president and vice president for 1 day (probably a Sunday) just for his persistence. If an issue was brought before McCain and Obama, they would have 24 hours to come to a joint decision. If no decision could be made, the two of them would be forced onto the front lawn of the White House, each with a single shot dueling pistol. Neither one would want this since the losing party would watch from the other side as one man gained total power. McCain would be worried that Obama would be faster with a gun since he was younger and may have shot one he obtained from an unscrupulous gun dealer in inner city Chicago. Obama would be worried that McCain would use his military training to put a bullet between his eyes. They would naturally agree within 24 hours.

Same with Palin and Biden. If they can't agree, same duel. Palin's a hunter, Biden eats pit bulls. Can't wait until November.

Bounty Hunters, Firewood, and the Death of Summer

Well, I decided to write a post just for the sake of posting. Not about anything in particular, just a brief update on what I have been doing.

First off, I would like to thank the Patriarch for his recent work in our little town. While his actions were not intentional, his keen insight and quick thinking undoubtedly led to the Bounty Hunter's capture and imprisonment. Long live the Knights of Minar!

So fall is just around the corner which became very apparent this labor day weekend. Here's a recap of my activities:

I had five days off so I spent the first day out cutting firewood (no plaid shirt) and ghost hunting with the Patriarch and two other guys from our town. We drove out to an old ghost town and visited the cemetery under complete darkness. I really think this was an excuse to get together, down some dewskies, and laugh about whatever rolled off our tongues. In the end, we may have caught something on our tape recorder, but I don't think it was legit.

Day two, Saturday, was spent in SLC with my family. The woman had to do some research at the Family History Library for a client of hers so I spent 5 hours downtown with four kids in 100 degree weather. We did go to the local Brazilian festival however and watched a lot of happy brazilians dancing to the music. We then went to the Dick's sporting goods which happens to have a 90' indoor climbing wall. My son, who is 7, decided he wanted to climb it. Well, he only made it 75 feet before saying he was done. He didn't fall of, he was just tired of climbing. My daughter went about 30 feet.

Day 3 is when the real fun began. We decided to go camping over labor day. We hitched up the campers to the Yellow Beast and started our trek into the mountains. We made it up to a nice clearing about 5 miles from home and stopped for the day. It was great. We hiked, played, ate steak for dinner. That night however was not a night to be camping. The rains fell all night and it took forever to get out in the morning thanks to muddy roads and a truck that didn't want to start. We made it back however and I still managed to get another huge load of wood on day 4 (plaid shirt).

Day 5 I canned more produce with the wife. That was the highlight of Day 5. In the end, I realize that snow could very well be falling here in the next few weeks. So, if I don't post for awhile, its because I am out cutting wood in all of my spare time. Here's to the death of summer(virtual toast).

Lunch at 9500'

Last weekend, the family and I headed up Mount Nebo for a picnic and some hiking. We have been unable to really enjoy our own home for the past few weeks since the EPA has been removing the soil around it as part of their remediation project in our town. Here are some pics of our trip. We had a picnic lunch, took a little hike to the Devil's kitchen area, and enjoyed Salt Creek while panning for gold. I'd do it again this weekend, but the mountain is on fire.

My first attempt

A few weeks ago, the Patriarch and I went to a an all you can eat sushi bar as somewhat of a last hoorah before we no longer worked together. I had sushi before, but wasn't a huge fan. All that was changed at this restaurant. I tried to remake some of what I had and this was my result. They don't look the best, but they were, as they say, "very tasty!". Thanks Patriarch for giving me yet another food to tinker with.

This post is well overdue but I still feel the need to get my thoughts down in written form. On May 14, 2008, my father went home. His health had been declining for several months and he wasn't all with it near the end. The last I got to truly talk with him was on his birthday in April, but he was rarely alert or responsive in subsequent phone calls. We had been planning a trip back in June in hopes of seeing him before he passed but that didn't get to happen. Despite the fact that I lost my father, I'm happy for him and know he is happier where he is now.

So, here is a little about my dad. He was born in 1927 in his parents home in the Conewago Hills of York County, Pa. He grew up there, attended school in a small one-room schoolhouse down the road, and eventually dropped out of school due to a disagreement with a math teacher. My father first worked for several orchards near his home, later for York Corrugating, and eventually started his own auto shop in the mid 1950s. He also worked as a police officer for many years during this time period. After selling his auto shop, he got a job at an Insurance company as an adjuster. That is where he met my mom, who was the secretary in the office. Mom got pregnant with my older sister and they married. Several years later, my dad began working as an enforcement officer for several local townships and specialized in environmental law. That was his last job until retirement.

My fondest memories of my dad involve going with him to work, going hunting in the mountains, and helping him around the house. I learned a lot from my dad. I learned how I wanted to treat my kids when I became a dad myself. So, here is a list of things that will always remind me of him:

1. Strawberries-Dad loved to pick them, eat them, and even send them through the mail. Imagine getting a box with juice coming from it.

2. Guns-Dad owned dozens, possibly hundreds

3. The phrases, "Go to hell" or "Mind your own damn business"-Dad loved these two. He told me to use them all the time, especially when people questioned my actions.

4. Fishing-Even if the one on the line is only 2 inches long, fight it like it's a shark.

5. Anything from the 50s-Dad had his fondest memories of that decade

6. Ponhaus, Scrapple, sous-Dad ate the weirdest things

7. the organ-he rocked out his own way

8. Buffalo-Dad had an obsession with trying to see these on the plains and due to his poor eyesight, every cedar tree was part of a stampede

My Name in Print (again)

Several months ago, I completed my Master’s thesis and received my Masters of Science degree. Shortly afterwards, I submitted a paper I wrote to an academic journal that is distributed worldwide. Today, much to my surprise, I received an acceptance email stating that my paper will be published in a special edition of the journal. What is nice about this all is that I am the author, not the co-author or contributing author, and I didn’t even need to modify it for them to take it. I will post a link to it once it is published. Now I can check that goal off of my list.

My long opinion on something

A story in the news that I have been following lately is that of the FLDS compound (YFZ Ranch) in Texas and the raids that are taking place there in response to reports of child abuse. For some reason, I feel like giving my two cents on this topic and how I feel about all of this.

First off, I live in Utah and polygyny is still alive and well here. It is not that you see men walking down the street with three girls on each side of them, but there are thousands of people in this state that still practice polygyny. The majority of people that practice polygyny don’t belong to the mainstream LDS church but to other groups that somehow trace their origins to the LDS movement. Many of these people live in communities where other polygynist people live and rarely associate with the outside world except for when they are conducting business. These people live very secretive lives out of necessity because living openly in society would result in ridicule and persecution. By doing so, these underground societies result in social dysfunction and further isolation from the world.

As you may have noticed, I used the word polygyny rather than polygamy. For those of you that don’t know the difference, polygyny is the practice of men having more than one wife, polyandry is the practice of women having more than one husband, and polygamy is a combination of the two. The majority of relationships in Fundamentalist Mormon groups are where men have more than one wife and women have only one husband. The mainstream LDS church practiced polygamy historically but officially gave up the practice in 1904. This has nothing to do with my rant but I am tired of people not understanding the difference.

Personally, I have no problems with people living polygyny. I believe that a polygynist should be able to marry as many consenting adult women as he would like. The primary word there is consenting. It isn’t my obligation to determine what should be allowed or whether any doctrine of a religion should be suppressed. Call me a liberal, but these people have rights just like I do and I have no say in how they use theirs. It saddens me when I see LDS people rip on fundamentalist churches and call for their downfall. Perhaps these people have forgotten what their ancestors went through in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois. Many of these people would have easily fit in the mobs that killed Joseph Smith. They don’t understand the ideas of tolerance, freedom, or humility. If these people are living an evil practice, they will pay for it before their maker.

Now to the FLDS ordeal. To make this clear, I don’t agree with the practices of the FLDS church. I do not doubt that they are marrying child brides, having forcible sexual contact, and intentionally inhibiting educational pursuits to create a subservient following. My big issue is with the way this all was handled. According to reports, a phone call was made from a 16 year old girl that reported abuse. Police responded, apparently found more problems, and rounded up over 400 children. I am all for protecting children. They are innocent and do not deserve any kind of abuse. But is the raid on the ranch really about something else? Could public distrust and moral authority be a driving force behind it all? After all, didn’t anyone notice all of the Baptist Church busses escorting the children away? When a member of any church commits a crime, be it abuse or robbery, are all of the members of that church suddenly under investigation for the same crimes? Naturally, the communal lifestyle is partly to blame for the mass roundup, but when does a society have the right assert its moral authority under the banner of protecting kids? Is the imminent danger referred to by police the imminent danger of the children living a life the authorities don’t believe in? When does the majority opinion override constitutional rights? There have been numerous comments in the media about how these children will grow up learning about polygyny, live it, and will never know about the world around them. Is that a crime? Can we start rounding these people up for living the way they do? For not being part of the same social clubs as the rest of us? I would never want that type of isolation for my children but I don’t believe anyone could stop me if I did. What about the Amish, or the parents that shelter their children for other reasons, or the parents that teach their children about things like polygamy but don’t practice it? I hope that the raid gets results and those that those that are criminals within the FLDS community are charged, pay for their crimes, and that victims feel that justice was served. In the end, we all need to remember that others have the same freedoms that we do and we need to respect them. If we as a society continue to assume that one bad apple does spoil the whole bunch, then we are all screwed. Thanks for listening to me rant.

The Loss of a Good Friend

A few months back, my wife and I were discussing the future of some of our possessions and I decided upon selling our old 1998 Ford Windstar minivan so that I could buy a used truck. It made sense since we bought a new minivan a few years back and the Windstar was being used more like a truck anyway. We used the Windstar for years as our primary mode of transportation, traveling across the country, into the hills to camp, to the grocery store, to the hardware store, etc. Despite all the memories, it was time to move on and get a more acceptable vehicle to be used a workhorse.

A few weeks ago, I finished the last repair on car, which was minor, and decided to clean the interior before listing it. Time passed quickly and I hadn't gotten around to it until today. I went out this morning to give it a jump start and then it happened. As I turned the key and the engine started, things just didn't sound right. The engine was making a loud metal on metal sound, and for those of you that don't know much about cars, that's not a good sound. The engine was running real rough and then I noticed oil dripping from the bottom of the engine. I called my friend the Patriarch at work and he confirmed my fears. Allen Hendrick stopped by my home a few hours later and confirmed that the engine was gone. So much for selling it to get a truck.

Now comes decision time. The cost for repair isn't worth it since the car isn't worth as much as the repairs cost. The patriarch said he may want it to fix for his family so I may have a sale there. If not, I called a junkyard that made me a reasonable offer for the car since it isn't in bad physical shape. Either way, I lost a trusty old friend today that served me well for years.

The End is Coming

The end is coming. Well, we all knew that but it has always been a question of when. I am not one who focuses on doomsday, the signs of the apocalypse, or believes in a huge destruction that will someday befall the world. Lets face it, as human beings, we can bring about the end of life as we know through what seem at the time like small and insignificant mistakes. So why am I writing this post? Well, for me, I am concerned about the future of our country and world in general. I have a family that I love more than anything and hate the thought of having to face severely hard times with them. Just recently, my wife and I came to some conclusions about where we would like to be in the future in regards to finances, geography, spirituality, career, etc. Just as we made the conclusions, economic hard times appear to be on the horizon for our country, and while we have prepared for the future in many ways, nothing will allow any of us to exist in hard times and not feel any sense of personal impact. Future plans may need to be put on hold until a time when security is in our favor in any drastic change in life we may make. For myself, I have a bright outlook on the world and the resiliency of human beings to overcome and adapt to even the most unmerciful situations. Despite my outlook, the world can always take a different turn of events, much like was witnessed last week with the downfall of an extremely large and influential banking institution. If others start to fall, it could mean economic disaster. In the area where I work, I see new foreclosures on a weekly basis and many of these homes once sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars. The housing bubble has finally popped and all of the people that gambled on subprime mortgages have been seeing their future fortunes as present day failures. Am I ever glad that I have enough intelligence to not get myself into such risky financial deals. Enough of my rant.

On a brighter note, spring is here. I am glad to finally see real dirt around my house and the EPA is coming this year to give me a new yard which I am ever excited about. To those of you that check this blog, I am sorry that I haven’t posted for so long. I am impressed with the diligence of you folks that don’t give up on me. Sorry this post is somewhat lame though. I half promise they will get better.

Old People Declare "this is a winter like we usta have"

It’s official!!! The quorum of the elderly gathered together late Sunday afternoon and officially declared this winter to be one “like we usta have”. After receiving storms on almost a daily basis and as the snow continued to pile high above their walkers, they realized that it was time to stop complaining about the recent lame winters and recognize a return of what once was. Comments about how warm our winters have been have been dashed and the elderly have been recognizing that this winter is bad, real bad. Granted, the town didn’t have to get together to help dig out a locomotive like they did back in ‘48, but the several feet of snow now on our ground has convinced them that this was the snow that they once had to walk five miles in just to get to school. As you can see from the pictures of my kitchen window (both of which were entirely covered), the snow piled up this past weekend. At my home, there was about 7 feet on the east side of my home at one point, until it shifted and leveled out. I am certain there will be further declarations this spring, as they realize that these are the floods like they once had.

Happy Super Tuesday

It’s Super Tuesday, and so, I decided I would put my political views on here in hopes to sway a few (probably not) to my side of the line. Some of you may already think you know who I will vote for but you may find yourselves surprised. When I was younger, politics only minimally interested me but as of late, with a growing family and uncertain future of what type of world my kids will live in, I now pay close attention to the upcoming election. Sadly, the candidate I would like most has no chance of making it into the office. I want change more than anything and the candidate that I think would provide it has only one six delegates. Regardless, my first choice is for Ron Paul. He is an ultra-right libertarian but stands behind what he believes in and thinks that our country needs to change its ways.

Since Paul has no chance, I will go with my second choice. Today, my state is part of the Super Tuesday vote, and I will be casting my ballot for...................Barack Obama. That’s right, I’m voting for the non-Muslim democrat that I think will best lead our country. In October of 2004, I was driving through Illinois and saw thousands of signs for Obama. At first, I thought it said Osama and then I looked him up on the web when I got home and wished he was running in my state. I never knew he would run for president but am glad he is.

As for the two above, they have a snowballs chance in hell for getting my vote. Hillary, well, no comment. Mitt, thanks for successfully waffling on almost every issue, including your religion. I think it is sad your religion came into play, but, when asked questions about Mormon beliefs, you didn’t have to lie or tell only half truths. After all, a half-truth presented as the whole truth is a complete untruth.