BOW before the almighty disaster movie to end all disaster movies!
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Update from Washington....
Yowza! It's really been 2 months since we last postified something from this blog....
Well now I have a couple days to kill in these here Seattle parts, so I'll get right to it....
Yep. Seattle. More 'pontosan'-ly (fer yew magyars out there) Kent, WA, about 21 miles from the Needle itself. I arrived yesterday after an arduous 2 and half hour drive from Tigard OR. Tigard, you say? Why yes, Tigard. I spent the last 11 days in Tigard at my very first roadshow sales event for Little Giant Ladders. Had an awesome time. My feet would disagree with me night after night, but I just tell them to shut up and deal with it. The feet will start to feel better after they get used to this new stuff...
I was in hopes to escape the record temps in Utah for some nice weather in Oregon, but alas, Portland temps were in the mid nineties most of last week, and I saw none of the nice cool rain I'd been hoping for.
That show wrapped up Sunday, and next day I was off farther North to these parts--where I'll start my first solo show this weekend.
The Palmers back in Nephi are all in relatively fine shape. The ones left at home are probably in a little better shape since Dad isn't around to muck up the schedule--from what I hear the boys are doing fine--they enjoyed a trip to Lagoon last week with their band cohorts--a reward for about 7 hot days put in at various parades around the Valley.
Aidan celebrated a birthday a couple weeks ago--I repurposed my 2 year-old ipod touch and handed it over to him--from what I can tell, he's thrilled with it. He wanted a cell phone, but since that sure as h-e-double hockey sticks wasn't happening, this was the next best thing. He can email his buddies to his hearts content from the house on it, and I am pretty sure that's all he wanted a cell phone for anyway.
That's all for now. Here's a pic from Saturday night at the Multnomah Falls....
Well now I have a couple days to kill in these here Seattle parts, so I'll get right to it....
Yep. Seattle. More 'pontosan'-ly (fer yew magyars out there) Kent, WA, about 21 miles from the Needle itself. I arrived yesterday after an arduous 2 and half hour drive from Tigard OR. Tigard, you say? Why yes, Tigard. I spent the last 11 days in Tigard at my very first roadshow sales event for Little Giant Ladders. Had an awesome time. My feet would disagree with me night after night, but I just tell them to shut up and deal with it. The feet will start to feel better after they get used to this new stuff...
I was in hopes to escape the record temps in Utah for some nice weather in Oregon, but alas, Portland temps were in the mid nineties most of last week, and I saw none of the nice cool rain I'd been hoping for.
That show wrapped up Sunday, and next day I was off farther North to these parts--where I'll start my first solo show this weekend.
The Palmers back in Nephi are all in relatively fine shape. The ones left at home are probably in a little better shape since Dad isn't around to muck up the schedule--from what I hear the boys are doing fine--they enjoyed a trip to Lagoon last week with their band cohorts--a reward for about 7 hot days put in at various parades around the Valley.
Aidan celebrated a birthday a couple weeks ago--I repurposed my 2 year-old ipod touch and handed it over to him--from what I can tell, he's thrilled with it. He wanted a cell phone, but since that sure as h-e-double hockey sticks wasn't happening, this was the next best thing. He can email his buddies to his hearts content from the house on it, and I am pretty sure that's all he wanted a cell phone for anyway.
That's all for now. Here's a pic from Saturday night at the Multnomah Falls....
Friday, May 22, 2009
What an AWESOME Month of May its been....
Ahhh, where does the month go?? Been a typical May so far--kids are wrapping up school, the garden preparatory weeding is coming along nicely, nice little bit of rain here and there, and oh yeah, I got laid off, along with 30 other guys... So that's fun. Nothing like looking for work again, after thinking I'd found the perfect home.
that's actually true--loved NOV, loved the work, had just finished my training and was ready to deploy to the Far East, when the bottom truly fell out of the market. Thanks Global Recession! Apparently the contraction in oil demand has been steep enough to make most major companies cut back on new investments in the cool cutting edge drilling technologies (ahem, NOV). So most of our division was hosed. And I understand the company line--tough to keep 40 guys on the payroll when there just is no where to send them for 10-12 months. I've been on the other end of the table, and while it is certainly worse to GET laid off, being the one bearing bad news is no picnic either. So bummer. Being fully trained and qualified though, I guess its nice to know we're first on the callback list when work picks up, but who the hell wants to wait or CAN wait around that long? Meh...
In a nutshell, Agi and I are really enjoying yet ANOTHER chance to reevaluate where we are going, and I think I'm full circle back to schooling. I guess there is no bigger neon-flashing sign than this--that I'm supposed to go back to BYU and wrap up those pesky final 3-4 classes. So that's the plan. I'll keep working part-time while I knock the schooling out, and get back into the Reserves. Once the degree is out of the way, we'll go from there.
So that was our awesome Month of May .
IN way more fun family stuff--this development gave me the time to go hang out with Ashton on his Heber Creeper field trip. IT was fun being the only 'Dad' chaperone in the class. I got to be in charge of him and 2 other boys...
The actual 'Heber Creeper' train and route were a MASSIVE disappointment. I've heard for years now how cool the ride is, from Heber City through Provo Canyon. The actual ride was a major letdown. Get on the train, pull out of the station, creep along the backside of the Deer Creek Reservoir for 1 hour at 15 MPH, grind to a halt before even hitting the Canyon and all the supposedly spectacular views, then back up and creep back to the station. What a rip-off. Paid 6 bucks each to creep along in a straight line for 10 miles, then back. Might have been a thrill for the locals I guess, but after 'train-ing' it through Europe, this was a huge waste. Couldn't hold a candle to the ride from Budapest to Ljubljana. Both Agi and I are really missing Hungary right now. Happy to be home, love Nephi, love the schools, but there are just tons of little every day things that remind us of Hungary...
But the time spent with Ashton and his buddies was fun, and I guess that's the point....
Probably the only decent view from the train....
Lone Wolf and Cub hanging out in the bitter frigid crosswinds that are only experienced by screaming down the tracks at 15 mph...
that's actually true--loved NOV, loved the work, had just finished my training and was ready to deploy to the Far East, when the bottom truly fell out of the market. Thanks Global Recession! Apparently the contraction in oil demand has been steep enough to make most major companies cut back on new investments in the cool cutting edge drilling technologies (ahem, NOV). So most of our division was hosed. And I understand the company line--tough to keep 40 guys on the payroll when there just is no where to send them for 10-12 months. I've been on the other end of the table, and while it is certainly worse to GET laid off, being the one bearing bad news is no picnic either. So bummer. Being fully trained and qualified though, I guess its nice to know we're first on the callback list when work picks up, but who the hell wants to wait or CAN wait around that long? Meh...
In a nutshell, Agi and I are really enjoying yet ANOTHER chance to reevaluate where we are going, and I think I'm full circle back to schooling. I guess there is no bigger neon-flashing sign than this--that I'm supposed to go back to BYU and wrap up those pesky final 3-4 classes. So that's the plan. I'll keep working part-time while I knock the schooling out, and get back into the Reserves. Once the degree is out of the way, we'll go from there.
So that was our awesome Month of May .
IN way more fun family stuff--this development gave me the time to go hang out with Ashton on his Heber Creeper field trip. IT was fun being the only 'Dad' chaperone in the class. I got to be in charge of him and 2 other boys...
The actual 'Heber Creeper' train and route were a MASSIVE disappointment. I've heard for years now how cool the ride is, from Heber City through Provo Canyon. The actual ride was a major letdown. Get on the train, pull out of the station, creep along the backside of the Deer Creek Reservoir for 1 hour at 15 MPH, grind to a halt before even hitting the Canyon and all the supposedly spectacular views, then back up and creep back to the station. What a rip-off. Paid 6 bucks each to creep along in a straight line for 10 miles, then back. Might have been a thrill for the locals I guess, but after 'train-ing' it through Europe, this was a huge waste. Couldn't hold a candle to the ride from Budapest to Ljubljana. Both Agi and I are really missing Hungary right now. Happy to be home, love Nephi, love the schools, but there are just tons of little every day things that remind us of Hungary...
But the time spent with Ashton and his buddies was fun, and I guess that's the point....
Probably the only decent view from the train....
Lone Wolf and Cub hanging out in the bitter frigid crosswinds that are only experienced by screaming down the tracks at 15 mph...
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Rainy Saturday morning-- the perfect time to get caught up...
Been a while. Since the last post. Not for the nagging though--not a day went by really where I didn't hear from one internal family member or another to POST SOMETHING! Got caught up in wrapping up training at work, umm, washing the dogs, painting bathrooms, umm, and whatever other excuse I can come up with...
Oh yeah--Agi always ends each blog post request with a resounding rejoinder of "make it funny!", so in the interest of keeping her happy, here you go:
Courtesy of my MacBook Pro's "photobooth" program... This is my new 'Cletus Palmer' look... I figure I take so much good-natured crap from extended family now for living in Nephi, that I'd throw them a cliched bone to fit the stereotype. No problem--whatever keeps them from moving down south to the best-kept secret in Utah... Nephi rocks.
Back to my blog-delinquency excuses----Mainly I think I just got tired of sitting down to the computer and being overwhelmed with the urge to vomit out obscenities at the Obama administration. I definitely don't/didn't want to become one of those tired sites, where all content is consumed with whining about the direction our country is headed. Though on that front there is MUCH to whine about.... I'll just try and keep it to a minimum...
SO--that pesky update that Agi has been bugging me to write for 3 months now....
Wrapped up the training program at work two weeks ago. Finally. The end couldn't come quickly enough. I am now for all intents and purposes qualified to go out on an offshore rig in Australia/Malaysia/Asia/Middle East and do what we do. Granted, I really look forward to being the junior guy for a while to get my bearings in off-shore life, but I've got the basic tools down to at least muddle through. Right now I am enjoying the time off while waiting for an assignment, and realizing that I have fully transitioned from a corporate life complete with meeting, suits, ties, powerpoint presentations, and employee reviews, to one of "new low guy on the totem pole", albeit in the awesome world of OIL. Its with a hugely successful, established company, in a new division that is perfecting cutting edge technology, and I'm in at the beginning. So happy times, hopefully, after a rough year...
Got my 2008 taxes done without a minute to spare. And by "got my taxes done", I mean got the accountant to file the extension on the last possible day, thereby pushing the day of reckoning to August. Taxes. Awesome.
Had an awesome week with the family, immediate and extended. Tough to ascribe the adjective 'awesome' to any event surrounding a funeral, but that is what it was. Grandma Solie passed away, after fighting off medical problems for the better part of 20 years, and it was good to get together with the entire extended Solie clan and see cousins again. Already planning a big "Salem Days" get together in August. It really is ridiculous that we all live here in Utah now and don't get together with the cousins that made muggy summers so much fun so many years ago. The Holland Clan is awesome.
Whaaat else..... Oh yeah--props to the other grandparents, the Hughes, on their 60th wedding anniversary, three weeks ago. 60 years she's put up with that guy :-). Love 'em. Hope to get to 60 with Agi. The over-under on that happening without me being murdered in my sleep is about even right now, and I'm hopefully going to put off that fate for as long as possible by being a semi-decent husband. I get pretty good marks, usually :-)
We also got a new puppy. A papered Golden Retriever we officially named Maximimus Attila, or Max for short. We are such puppy whores, apparently. I'd post a picture right now, but don't want to get up and go find the camera... Take my word for it, he's cute. Almost cute enough to make up for losing Jack to a nice family in the Inland Empire. With work for both Agi and I and school for the kids, Jack just wasn't getting all the attention a Vizsla puppy needs, and was making life hell for our neighbors during his lonely daytimes. So, with the help of Jared in SoCal, found him a great home with a developmentally disabled teenager who can devote all time and energies to him 24/7. He's in puppy heaven right now. NOt the real Heaven--the one in Menifee, CA.
In the meantime, we'll make do with Max and Midnight, our other fat lazy black lab. She's fun, active, and yet too apathetic to make life challenging for the neighbors. SO the perfect dog. I can picture her hunting though--"hey girl! GO get the bird! Looks up annoyed--'go get it yourself, fat guy...." ehhh.
So that's it in a brief nutshell. Caught up. Now that I've shaken off three months worth of rust, and have some indefinite time off, I'll blog a bit more frequently.....
Oh yeah--Agi always ends each blog post request with a resounding rejoinder of "make it funny!", so in the interest of keeping her happy, here you go:
Courtesy of my MacBook Pro's "photobooth" program... This is my new 'Cletus Palmer' look... I figure I take so much good-natured crap from extended family now for living in Nephi, that I'd throw them a cliched bone to fit the stereotype. No problem--whatever keeps them from moving down south to the best-kept secret in Utah... Nephi rocks.
Back to my blog-delinquency excuses----Mainly I think I just got tired of sitting down to the computer and being overwhelmed with the urge to vomit out obscenities at the Obama administration. I definitely don't/didn't want to become one of those tired sites, where all content is consumed with whining about the direction our country is headed. Though on that front there is MUCH to whine about.... I'll just try and keep it to a minimum...
SO--that pesky update that Agi has been bugging me to write for 3 months now....
Wrapped up the training program at work two weeks ago. Finally. The end couldn't come quickly enough. I am now for all intents and purposes qualified to go out on an offshore rig in Australia/Malaysia/Asia/Middle East and do what we do. Granted, I really look forward to being the junior guy for a while to get my bearings in off-shore life, but I've got the basic tools down to at least muddle through. Right now I am enjoying the time off while waiting for an assignment, and realizing that I have fully transitioned from a corporate life complete with meeting, suits, ties, powerpoint presentations, and employee reviews, to one of "new low guy on the totem pole", albeit in the awesome world of OIL. Its with a hugely successful, established company, in a new division that is perfecting cutting edge technology, and I'm in at the beginning. So happy times, hopefully, after a rough year...
Got my 2008 taxes done without a minute to spare. And by "got my taxes done", I mean got the accountant to file the extension on the last possible day, thereby pushing the day of reckoning to August. Taxes. Awesome.
Had an awesome week with the family, immediate and extended. Tough to ascribe the adjective 'awesome' to any event surrounding a funeral, but that is what it was. Grandma Solie passed away, after fighting off medical problems for the better part of 20 years, and it was good to get together with the entire extended Solie clan and see cousins again. Already planning a big "Salem Days" get together in August. It really is ridiculous that we all live here in Utah now and don't get together with the cousins that made muggy summers so much fun so many years ago. The Holland Clan is awesome.
Whaaat else..... Oh yeah--props to the other grandparents, the Hughes, on their 60th wedding anniversary, three weeks ago. 60 years she's put up with that guy :-). Love 'em. Hope to get to 60 with Agi. The over-under on that happening without me being murdered in my sleep is about even right now, and I'm hopefully going to put off that fate for as long as possible by being a semi-decent husband. I get pretty good marks, usually :-)
We also got a new puppy. A papered Golden Retriever we officially named Maximimus Attila, or Max for short. We are such puppy whores, apparently. I'd post a picture right now, but don't want to get up and go find the camera... Take my word for it, he's cute. Almost cute enough to make up for losing Jack to a nice family in the Inland Empire. With work for both Agi and I and school for the kids, Jack just wasn't getting all the attention a Vizsla puppy needs, and was making life hell for our neighbors during his lonely daytimes. So, with the help of Jared in SoCal, found him a great home with a developmentally disabled teenager who can devote all time and energies to him 24/7. He's in puppy heaven right now. NOt the real Heaven--the one in Menifee, CA.
In the meantime, we'll make do with Max and Midnight, our other fat lazy black lab. She's fun, active, and yet too apathetic to make life challenging for the neighbors. SO the perfect dog. I can picture her hunting though--"hey girl! GO get the bird! Looks up annoyed--'go get it yourself, fat guy...." ehhh.
So that's it in a brief nutshell. Caught up. Now that I've shaken off three months worth of rust, and have some indefinite time off, I'll blog a bit more frequently.....
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Road Trip!
Just pulled in to a Colby, Kansas Motel 6, off I-70. I am trekking across the country with Aidan to collect a big wooden trunk/coffee table that Agi and I had made in Hungary. Family friends of ours agreed to haul it home for us in their container, as it wouldn't fit on the pallets we shipped last May. It's in Missouri, and in looking at the calendar, I knew I'd have to get it now or wait at least two months for my work schedule to clear up.
So naturally everything went wrong today. We had planned to leave as soon as we woke up this morning, but actually woke to a cold house--our furnace went out. By the time we got a repairman lined up (the circuitboard was shot) we didn't leave the house until 11. Not too great when we had the first 729 mile leg of the trip in front of us...
And naturally I forgot to pack the camera--meaning no photos for this little travelogue. Which sucks, since we passed some breathtaking sites--Capitol Reef National Park, Vail, Aspen, etc....
Not too fond of Vail now. Got caught in the mother of all traffic jams, in the middle of a storm, and crept forward 12 miles in two hours at the top of the Rockies, through the Vail Pass. Means we didn't get through Denver until after 8 PM. Once clearing Denver though, all traffic magically disappeared. And I mean DISAPPEARED. We had the highway to ourself for the remaining 212 miles between Denver and Kansas. Apparently there is nothing worth visiting past Denver, despite the brochures we picked up proclaiming the stretch of I-70 between Colby & Topeka "America's Main Street". I wouldn't know. We drove there in the dark.
I've had a blast with Aidan--torturing him with the music of my youth. Specifically for this trip I loaded my ipod with tunes from that lost period of the eighties, with a few choice cuts from the seventies as well. I covered the gamut, from cheese like Eddie Money (Take Me Home tonight) and Rick Springfield (Jesse's Girl) to classics from Kansas and Springsteen. And all points inbetween (hello Nightranger, Bon Jovi, Asia, and Toto...) Most of these tunes (with the exception of Springsteen's finest) I hadn't even heard since Jr High in Payson, so that was fun... Aidan handled it pretty well--thumbs up to Eddie Money and Alphaville, not so much the Asia...)
Ah well. Leg two starts tomorrow, as we stop in Granby, Missouri to pack the van with our stuff and visit the Burdens. Then on Monday its a six hour detour south to the Denton TX area to drop in on Janene and Bill. Provided they ever decide to respond to the emails I sent informing them of our desire to crash their house... :-)... If you read this Janene, call me at 435-213-7198...
Signing out from ice-cold Kansas. Seriously. Its like below zero right now....
So naturally everything went wrong today. We had planned to leave as soon as we woke up this morning, but actually woke to a cold house--our furnace went out. By the time we got a repairman lined up (the circuitboard was shot) we didn't leave the house until 11. Not too great when we had the first 729 mile leg of the trip in front of us...
And naturally I forgot to pack the camera--meaning no photos for this little travelogue. Which sucks, since we passed some breathtaking sites--Capitol Reef National Park, Vail, Aspen, etc....
Not too fond of Vail now. Got caught in the mother of all traffic jams, in the middle of a storm, and crept forward 12 miles in two hours at the top of the Rockies, through the Vail Pass. Means we didn't get through Denver until after 8 PM. Once clearing Denver though, all traffic magically disappeared. And I mean DISAPPEARED. We had the highway to ourself for the remaining 212 miles between Denver and Kansas. Apparently there is nothing worth visiting past Denver, despite the brochures we picked up proclaiming the stretch of I-70 between Colby & Topeka "America's Main Street". I wouldn't know. We drove there in the dark.
I've had a blast with Aidan--torturing him with the music of my youth. Specifically for this trip I loaded my ipod with tunes from that lost period of the eighties, with a few choice cuts from the seventies as well. I covered the gamut, from cheese like Eddie Money (Take Me Home tonight) and Rick Springfield (Jesse's Girl) to classics from Kansas and Springsteen. And all points inbetween (hello Nightranger, Bon Jovi, Asia, and Toto...) Most of these tunes (with the exception of Springsteen's finest) I hadn't even heard since Jr High in Payson, so that was fun... Aidan handled it pretty well--thumbs up to Eddie Money and Alphaville, not so much the Asia...)
Ah well. Leg two starts tomorrow, as we stop in Granby, Missouri to pack the van with our stuff and visit the Burdens. Then on Monday its a six hour detour south to the Denton TX area to drop in on Janene and Bill. Provided they ever decide to respond to the emails I sent informing them of our desire to crash their house... :-)... If you read this Janene, call me at 435-213-7198...
Signing out from ice-cold Kansas. Seriously. Its like below zero right now....
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
The era of peace and prosperity has begun...
With a WHOLE LOTTA CLASS!
Seriously, I saw this live yesterday and was utterly disgusted with the hordes of losers who had the classy manners to actually BOO an outgoing president. Say what you will about conservatives and their distaste at having a pseudo socialist lightweight as commander in chief, they have been extremely supportive of the guy and respectful as he begins his term, with some columnists even being seduced over to the dark side by the charming personality of the new president.
Funny, and more than a little hypocritical, of the lefties to now blather on and on about "unity" and coming together as one America" after they all went DefCon 1 when Bush was elected and spent the next 8 years throwing every vile epithet they could at the guy. Yeah. Now we are all magically one happy country when THEIR guy gets elected. And the funny thing is, respect or at least respectful disagreement has been exactly what the right has been offering up. And that'll continue.
I am not unaware of the historic nature of the event--our first black president is a big deal, and symbolically means a great deal to the entire planet. As the symbolism fades, and he has to really lead, I do sincerely hope he continues on the moderate course reflected by his keeping Robert Gates on as SecDef, and his backing away from the instant pullout from Iraq he promised at every turn on the campaign trail. I've always thought that reality would set in once he started getting his daily intel briefings.
That being said, I give a big thumbs up to the outgoing commander in chief. Despite his failings on the domestic front (huge new spending in medicare, inability -no thanks to intemperate democrats- to reform social security, and blase attitude toward vetoes that allowed for profligate amounts of government spending) he did get the big items right. We didn't see another attack on our soil, got two very qualified originalist conservative jurists on the Supreme Court, and you have to love the guys absolute willingness to do what he thought was right, regardless of public opinion. Based on the actions of the crowd on the Mall yesterday, ignoring American public opinion is usually a wise choice.
So good luck GWB. Enjoy retirement in Texas. I am fully confident we'll see a different sort of retirement than the one on permanent display by Clinton--that involves flitting about the globe on a private jet paid for by Saudi money, taking money from every despot on the planet for his "Clinton Initiative", and being seen with one skanky ho after another at yet another hotel in yet another foreign capital. You stay classy, Bill!
On a personal note, I took a month off from these updates mainly because I was tired every day. for these first couple weeks of January (through last Friday) I took advantage of an offer to go into our company's shop and help tear down and gut incoming pipe from the field, all in an attempt to really get an insiders view of how our system works. It was kinda fun--becoming a blue-collar joe. Yep, uniform, grease, heavy lifting, operating heavy machinery, and cutting stuff up with big-ass grinders was fun. But left me comfortably tired at the end of each day, and more than willing to just trudge into the house and watch the tube. And prepare the occasional Sunday School lesson.
I've got two weeks off now before getting back at it, so I'll probably write a little more. I don't lack for material. Like this:
Ashton came into the kitchen over the weekend one morning with a very heavy, sad look on his face, obviously troubled with something really weighing on his mind. I took a break from scrambling up the eggs and crouched down in front of him...
"What's wrong buddy? How are are you feeling?".
"Dad", he whispered, kneading his thoughts and words very carefully---
"When Barack is sworn in on Tuesday, will we have to start calling breakfast, Barack-fast?
Can't make that stuff up...
Seriously, I saw this live yesterday and was utterly disgusted with the hordes of losers who had the classy manners to actually BOO an outgoing president. Say what you will about conservatives and their distaste at having a pseudo socialist lightweight as commander in chief, they have been extremely supportive of the guy and respectful as he begins his term, with some columnists even being seduced over to the dark side by the charming personality of the new president.
Funny, and more than a little hypocritical, of the lefties to now blather on and on about "unity" and coming together as one America" after they all went DefCon 1 when Bush was elected and spent the next 8 years throwing every vile epithet they could at the guy. Yeah. Now we are all magically one happy country when THEIR guy gets elected. And the funny thing is, respect or at least respectful disagreement has been exactly what the right has been offering up. And that'll continue.
I am not unaware of the historic nature of the event--our first black president is a big deal, and symbolically means a great deal to the entire planet. As the symbolism fades, and he has to really lead, I do sincerely hope he continues on the moderate course reflected by his keeping Robert Gates on as SecDef, and his backing away from the instant pullout from Iraq he promised at every turn on the campaign trail. I've always thought that reality would set in once he started getting his daily intel briefings.
That being said, I give a big thumbs up to the outgoing commander in chief. Despite his failings on the domestic front (huge new spending in medicare, inability -no thanks to intemperate democrats- to reform social security, and blase attitude toward vetoes that allowed for profligate amounts of government spending) he did get the big items right. We didn't see another attack on our soil, got two very qualified originalist conservative jurists on the Supreme Court, and you have to love the guys absolute willingness to do what he thought was right, regardless of public opinion. Based on the actions of the crowd on the Mall yesterday, ignoring American public opinion is usually a wise choice.
So good luck GWB. Enjoy retirement in Texas. I am fully confident we'll see a different sort of retirement than the one on permanent display by Clinton--that involves flitting about the globe on a private jet paid for by Saudi money, taking money from every despot on the planet for his "Clinton Initiative", and being seen with one skanky ho after another at yet another hotel in yet another foreign capital. You stay classy, Bill!
On a personal note, I took a month off from these updates mainly because I was tired every day. for these first couple weeks of January (through last Friday) I took advantage of an offer to go into our company's shop and help tear down and gut incoming pipe from the field, all in an attempt to really get an insiders view of how our system works. It was kinda fun--becoming a blue-collar joe. Yep, uniform, grease, heavy lifting, operating heavy machinery, and cutting stuff up with big-ass grinders was fun. But left me comfortably tired at the end of each day, and more than willing to just trudge into the house and watch the tube. And prepare the occasional Sunday School lesson.
I've got two weeks off now before getting back at it, so I'll probably write a little more. I don't lack for material. Like this:
Ashton came into the kitchen over the weekend one morning with a very heavy, sad look on his face, obviously troubled with something really weighing on his mind. I took a break from scrambling up the eggs and crouched down in front of him...
"What's wrong buddy? How are are you feeling?".
"Dad", he whispered, kneading his thoughts and words very carefully---
"When Barack is sworn in on Tuesday, will we have to start calling breakfast, Barack-fast?
Can't make that stuff up...
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