Jenny's Grandma

I just wanted to let some of you know that Jenny is on her way to Medicine Lodge right now to see her Grandma Moore, hopefully, before she passes away.  She has been in a nursing home for a little while now with Alzheimer's and has gone down hill rather quickly.  Last weekend she came down with pneumonia and they put her on Antibiotics.  Now her throat has gotten too swollen for her to swallow so she hasn't been able to drink or take the antibiotics.  I guess they decided to move her to the hospital in Medicine Lodge, I am not sure what else they are going to do for her at this time.  Please be praying for Bonnie (Jenny's mom), Jenny and the rest of the family.

Btw, the boys are at day care right now so that Jenny could just focus on helping her mom.

Thanks,

Heath

"A man is what he thinks about all day long."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Any ideas?

I came home at lunch in my car. The kids and I went to get something to eat in the Explorer b/c Jenny was sick. Came home and then went outside to leave in my car... but no keys. Not in my pockets, not in my coat, not on the table or the kitchen cabinet, not on the dresser or anywhere on the floor in the living room and not in the car.

Finally I went back to work in the Explorer. Then I came home around 3 b/c Jenny was too sick. Searched for about an hour and I still haven't found them!! It is the ONLY key I have to that car!!

I did take out the trash, which I went back and looked through a little. I guess the next step is to take all of the trash back out of the dumpster and lay it out in the Garage.

Does anyone have any other ideas!!?

Jacobs First Christmas Special

Silent Night

Little Drummer Boy Yes that is Ethan in the Background yelling "Hi Bubba!!". When Jacob was done and he went to sit down Ethan said "Good job, Bubba!", really proud and excited for him.

James Kim 1971-2006

I was very sorry to find that they found James Kim, the father missing in Oregon, dead this afternoon. Only 35 years old with a wife and 2 small kids! I have watched his tech reviews on cnet.com for several years now so I guess I felt like I new him a little.

I pray that God will comfort his family now and I hope that they will find comfort knowing that there is no greater love than a man laying down his life for his family.

Link: James Kim found deceased

How lovely are thy branches

We put our tree up last weekend :-)

Ethan Playing Basketball 11/24

He lines it up

He shoots!He SCORES!!
He goes in for a lay up.

Jacob's Play-Dough Art

Here is a shark swimming in the ocean underneath a moon & star-filled sky.

A flat sculpture of Ethan

 

In light of all of my recent grumbling I have decided to post a list of things I am thankful for.

So here it is. I am thankful for...

1. A God that loves me enough to die for me.
2. My amazing wife Jenny and my 2 wonderful little boys.
3. My Parents and family that are too many to mention but you know who you are.
4. My friends that I have had since High School and Junior High who haven't gotten tired of me yet.
5. My job. Despite the new arrangement I do love my job and I am thankful for it everyday and I recognize that it is a gift from above.
6. Living in a country where I have the freedom to worship without fear.
7. The Church we have been attending, Wheatland Mission.
8. Our home.
9. The big sky and the open plains.
   
10. Coca~Cola, Mmmmmmm...

"Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." - 1 Thes 5:18

What are you thankful for?

Blog Outing

I have another blog that I have been working on for a few months that is more of a spiritual/faith discussion, but up until now I have just been talking to myself. Nattyman Blog includes those elements sometimes but as more of a personal nature. The newer blog is a place for me to say what I have been thinking about spiritually. It isn't separate to compartmentalize my faith but rather to focus it. You may have already noticed it in my profile but now I am officially "outing" it. Feel free to tell me how wrong I am ;-)

myUndoing

Reasons I Hate My New Office Setup.

1. Very low cubicle walls, no privacy... makes me feel naked
2. It is stinking hot in here all of the time. we used a thermometer to check and it was 79 degrees at my desk... it is even hotter now. *(see below)
   
3. Hardly any view to the outside world... the stupid smokers courtyard doesn't count.
4. I am surrounded by a bunch of boring white people. Before I was surrounded by a rich diverse group of Indians, Asians, Latinos, Blacks and Whites.
5. I am crowded. I went from one desk in my cubicle to 3, which you would think would be nice but I can't move them and so I am stuck this way and my monitor is right in my face!
6. I took the stairs to the fourth floor as my only means of exercise so now I have none and I will probably get overweight and out of shape now and die young... all because of this move to the second floor.

I think that is it with the complaining for now.

Proof of the temperature:

Change is bad!!

Our department is growing and today we had to move from the 4th floor to the second.  I don't like it.  It probably doesn't help that I am sick and it is about 80 degrees in here. 

There is way less sunlight and it is much more closed in.  Plus the cubicles have this low wall thing going on and there is no privacy... I feel naked.

Exercising my civic duty

I voted today at lunch.  I think it is the first time I have voted anywhere other than the Library in Garden City.  When I lived in Manhattan I drove to GC and back the day of the 96 election.  It was also my first time to use the digital voting machine rather than the archaic 2nd Millennium pencil and paper method.  I can imagine that it saves a lot of time and man power in counting votes.  The Church I was at was pretty busy but I am fairly sure I was the youngest person in the room by a good 20 years.  Kind of sad, but I am one of the few people that see low voter turnout as a good thing.  It just means that my vote counts more, plus who wants a bunch of people voting that don't know what or who they are voting for.  Everything went fine, the strange thing though was when I was at the review screen somehow I had voted for Pat Buchanan for Kansas Governor!

Phone Pictures

This was taken a few nights ago when I left work. Wished I had had my real camera with me.
These next 2 are Ethan and Jacob at Chucky Cheeses, I think 2 weekends ago. I meant to bring the real camera but I was glad to at least have my phone. It was the first real cold Saturday of the season and they were PACKED! We spent most of the time playing a race car game, but neither of them can reach the peddles so they had to take turns sitting on my lap so I could press the gas for them.
 

Time To Pull Out Of California

The American Enterprise: Eye of the Beholder

As a fifth-generation Californian, I deeply love this state, but still imagine what the reaction would be if the world awoke each morning to be told that once again there were six more murders, 27 rapes, 38 arsons, 180 robberies, and 360 instances of assault in California—yesterday, today, tomorrow, and every day. I wonder if the headlines would scream about “Nearly 200 poor Califor­nians butchered again this month!”

How about a monthly media dose of “600 women raped in February alone!” Or try, “Over 600 violent robberies and assaults in March, with no end in sight!” Those do not even make up all of the state’s yearly 200,000 violent acts that law enforcement knows about.

more...

Trick or Treating - 2006 (Taking To Much)

Jacob & Ethan trick or Treating on our street - 2006 Here is another funny video from last night

2006 Halloween - Photo Album

Global Warming Skepticism Grows!

Renowned Scientist Defects From Belief in Global Warming – Caps Year of Vindication for Skeptics

Paleoclimate scientist Bob Carter has noted that there is indeed a problem with global warming – it stopped in 1998. “According to official temperature records of the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia in the UK, the global average temperature did not increase between 1998-2005.
...

Earlier this year, a group of prominent scientists came forward to question the so-called “consensus” that the Earth faces a “climate emergency.” On April 6, 2006, 60 scientists wrote a letter to the Canadian Prime Minister asserting that the science is deteriorating from underneath global warming alarmists.

“Observational evidence does not support today's computer climate models, so there is little reason to trust model predictions of the future…Significant [scientific] advances have been made since the [Kyoto] protocol was created, many of which are taking us away from a concern about increasing greenhouse gases. If, back in the mid-1990s, we knew what we know today about climate, Kyoto would almost certainly not exist, because we would have concluded it was not necessary,” the 60 scientists wrote.

Find much more here: http://epw.senate.gov/pressitem.cfm?party=rep&id=264777

Another day at the office

"We have been notified and are fully aware of the skunk smell on the first floor.  Animal Control and the building manager have been notified."

- A memo from the front desk sent out to the 900 people in my office.  Makes me glad to be on the 4th floor  :-)

Middle America

Anyone that tries to tell you that we are worse of today than we were yesterday or that our kids are not going to have it as good as us needs to read this article!!

http://www.forbes.com/home/economy/2006/10/16/demographics-income-population-biz_cx_tvr_1017median.html

Four Dollars Worth of Torture

We spent the weekend in Medicine Lodge for the Peace Treaty Pageant. We watched the Parade Saturday morning that included 3 or 4 of the Indian Tribes that took part in the treaty. They were at the front of the parade and they danced along the way with big drums and most of them wearing the authentic dress. Then they had all the different characters from the Pageant, but I couldn't help but laugh wondering when the fake Indians came out at the end on horses, they consisted of just local people dressed like "Indian Warriors", if the real Indians where offended by the fake ones. We also saw Martina McBride. She is the lady on the back of the motorcycle with her dad in the pictures. That evening we went to the carnival. The boys had fun on the kid's rides and then we went downtown to get what we hoped would be a cheaper funnel cake than at the Carnival, it wasn't. There we watched some of the stage events. A man and woman were singing folk music with a guitar. I thought, man that looks like someone I know so I asked around and found out that yes it was Willis Pracht (I hope I am spelling his name right) who was my 5th and 6th grade principle at Garfield. He was very good; I wish I could have heard more of it. I was disappointed that he wasn't playing with his Hummingbird that he bought back from Linda. Instead he was using a 12 string which was probably more fitting for playing solo before such a large crowd. After the music they reenacted some Medicine Lodge history including a bank robbery in which the town citizens carried out some good old fashioned mob justice :-) Then they had a historical Congressional election debate between a big city proper Republican and local Populous candidate. About half way through it I thought man that Republican looks familiar, so I asked Jenny who said it was Mr. Germes. He was my AP History teacher my Junior year. From this I concluded that they couldn't have put on this event with out people from Garden City ;-) Then we went back to the Carnival to finish off our tickets. We waited in line for the Tilt-A-Wirl for probably 30 minutes. Jenny and the boys and I all rode on it. The carni taking tickets was like "All four of you? OK...." Like he thought that was a bad idea but wasn't going to stop us. About 30 seconds into it I realized why. The more weight the faster it spins. All the other carts either had 1 person in them or 2 smaller people. From about that point on I spent the rest of the time praying that it would be over. Apparently I am too old for spinning in circles fast anymore. Jenny and Jacob loved it though and couldn't stop laughing the whole time. Ethan had a poker face through the ride. I just kept thinking "Why did I stand in line for half an hour and pay four dollars to torture myself?" I am pretty sure that they would not be allowed to do that to the prisoners in Gitmo. Although I think an hour or 2 of something like that would be pretty effective in getting information on anyone. I am pretty sure I would have told them whatever they wanted to know. The family picture is of us in the torture machine before it started and the blurry pictures of Jenny and of Jacob laughing are of them during the ride. After the ride of pain we went home. It took me a good hour to recover to where Jenny and I could go back downtown to the street dance where Jenny was wanting to meet some friends, and we left the kids with Bonnie at the house. Later I had a chance to talk to Mr. Germes and his wife. I told him who I was and when I had been in his class but I am still not sure that he remembered who I was. At least he was very friendly and we talked for a good 20 minutes. It was a fun weekend though and now it is getting late. I wanted to put the pictures throughout this post but it would only let me do 4 at a time so I just opted for the one and you can see the others in our web album. No time for proof reading now :-S Good night.

Medicine Lodge Peace Treaty

Sep 30, 2006 - 11 Photos

It's a Beautiful Day

We started the day with Jacob practicing skipping in the driveway as we left to go eat at Denny's. After Denny's we went to the zoo for a while. This evening we went and met Bonnie and Jeff at Riverside Park near downtown where you can see the kids playing on the playground and Jacob following a guy around with a metal detector for about 10 minutes. He kept asking the guy questions but the man couldn't hear him b/c he had on headphones, so I don't think many of Jacobs questions were answered. Also note Ethan pouting off by himself after he got in trouble for yelling at other kids 3x's his size and telling them NO. He's so bossy. Click on the picture below to see more.

It's a Beautiful Day Sep 9, 2006 - 21 Photos

"I Dee It"

FREEEEEDOOOOMMM!!! (to be yelled like Mel Gibson at the end of Braveheart when he is being tortured and they give him one last chance to recant)

I just finished my last 2 projects for my VB.net II class.  Which means I have now made it through the 4 hardest classes in my Computer Programming degree program (and with straight A's I might add).  Now I am going to take a break b/c my life has been on hold for the last 8 months that I have been taking these classes, not to mention organizing a class reunion. 

The amount of stress in the last month has been killing me.  Now with the reunion over and my classes being done (for now) it is a huge weight off my shoulders and I don't know what I will do with all of the extra time!  My stomach started even bothering me a lot last week.  The prescription strength Prevacid stopped working so I doubled the dose and it still has been pretty bad.  I have some Nexium samples from the doctor that I am trying out.  Hopefully with that and the reduced stress my stomach will go back to normal.  If not they will have to put this scope down my throat and through my stomach to see what is going on!  I hate not being able to eat hardly anything or drink in Coke :-(


**"I Dee It" is what Ethan says anytime he accomplishes something cool.  = "I did it".

Man Gets Jail for Fake Newspaper Obit

ABC News: Man Gets Jail for Fake Newspaper Obit

A northeast Iowa man who filed a fake obituary with a newspaper is headed to jail. James Snyder, of Stout, was accused of submitting the obituary for his girlfriend's 17-year-old son to the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier last December to get out of work. more>>

I find this really funny.  My question is, if he had made up a fake "son" that died, instead of using a real person that would be seen around town, would he have gotten away with it?  Or if he had gotten caught would he have gotten in as much trouble.  Hmmmm...

"Head-in-the-Sand Liberals" by a liberal

Head-in-the-Sand Liberals - Los Angeles Times

TWO YEARS AGO I published a book highly critical of religion, "The End of Faith." In it, I argued that the world's major religions are genuinely incompatible, inevitably cause conflict and now prevent the emergence of a viable, global civilization. In response, I have received many thousands of letters and e-mails from priests, journalists, scientists, politicians, soldiers, rabbis, actors, aid workers, students — from people young and old who occupy every point on the spectrum of belief and nonbelief.

This has offered me a special opportunity to see how people of all creeds and political persuasions react when religion is criticized. I am here to report that liberals and conservatives respond very differently to the notion that religion can be a direct cause of human conflict.

This difference does not bode well for the future of liberalism....  more >>

---

I have been seeing more and more articles like this of liberals opening their eyes to this problem. Very interesting.

The Silent Thud

I was just working on my homework upstairs when I heard a loud thud. I knew what it was right away so I ran into the boys room and there was Jacob, not on the floor like I had expected from him falling out of bed, but more just hanging there in mid air. His arm and head where touching the floor but his body was suspended in air and his legs where caught up in his covers still up on his bed. He was just peacefully hanging there completely silent still asleep. Like a content little bat :-)

Sorry I didn't think about getting a picture of it until after I had gently placed him back in bed. Maybe next time.

A DEADLY KINDNESS

A DEADLY KINDNESS By RICHARD MINITER - New York Post Online Edition: Postopinion

The high-minded critics who complain about torture are wrong. We are far too soft on these guys - and, as a result, aren't getting the valuable intelligence we need to save American lives.

The politically correct regulations are unbelievable. Detainees are entitled to a full eight hours sleep and can't be woken up for interrogations. They enjoy three meals and five prayers per day, without interruption. They are entitled to a minimum of two hours of outdoor recreation per day.

...Call it excessive compassion by a nation devoted to therapy, but it's dangerous....

...Other cells pass messages from leaders in one camp to followers in others. How? Detainees use the envelopes sent to them by their attorneys to pass messages....

...No expense (is) spared for al Qaeda health care...

...Of Gitmo's several camps, military records show that the one with the most lenient rules is the one with the most incidents and vice versa. There is a lesson in this: We should worry less about detainee safety and more about our own...

---

When these terrorists capture innocent non-military Americans they take care of them by beheading them. When we capture people actively involved in murdering Americans and plotting to destroy our country we give them the royal treatment with full health care. This is outrageous and is endangering innocent American lives. These lawyers and others who think
protecting the rights of terrorists is a higher priority than protecting Americans will have innocent blood on their hands when we get attacked again. Unfortunately I doubt even then they will take this war seriously.

My two kids wake me up multiple times in the middle of the night, I never get a full nights sleep. Up until a year ago I didn't have health insurance and was paying for my health care out of pockett. I am lucky if I get 30 minutes outside a day let alone 2 hours. These guys are living better than me!

---

Update:

Speaking of the lawyers... Here is what one had to brag about.

'We have over one hundred lawyers now from big and small firms working to represent these detainees. Every time an attorney goes down there, it makes it that much harder to do what they're doing. You can’t run an interrogation and torture camp with attorneys.'

http://www.motherjones.com/news/qa/2005/03/ratner.html

Can you OD on Antacid?

I am working on it.

Rio Karma

Sometimes my MP3 player knows me like a close personal friend other times it is a stranger throwing random songs at me like rocks trying to provoke me.  Today it is a brother handing me the right songs in the perfect order to comfort, inspire and motivate me.  Yesterday I left work a little early feeling like I could do no more...of anything.  Today I went into work feeling the same and wondering how I would make it through another day of toil and playing catchup.  But with the selective combination of Arrested Development, U2, Waterdeep, Foo Fighters and Pedro the Lion I now have the strength to press on.

At least it is Friday... back to work now.

The Religion of Peace

I think it is ironic when someone criticizes Islam for being violent and Muslims become outraged and respond with violence.

Pope comments explosive in Mideast: analysts

Not to say that all Muslims are violent, but stuff like this sure doesn't help the image of Islam.

The "Fluffy Planet"

Come on, so this big ball of helium and hydrogen gets called a planet, but not Pluto? Where is the justice.

Astronomers find distant, fluffy planet

Our Day At The Air Show

Our Day at the Air Show

Sep 9, 2006 - 14 Photos

Air Marshals

I think being an Air Marshal would be one of the coolest yet boring jobs ever. On the one hand not only do you get to carry a concealed gun, but you get to carry one on to a plane!! Plus you get heavily trained in close combat. On the other hand you have to sit on a boring air plane for hours and hours on end doing nothing but "blending in". I wonder if you get free flights? That could be the one thing to tip the scale in favor of being an air marshal... I would probably never get hired though because I believe to much in profiling.

Riverside Park

Riverside Park

Aug 20, 2006 - 7 Photos

Here are pictures of the boys downtown at Riverside Park playing in a fountain.

Act locally, think globally: Shop Wal-Mart.

Why I am happy to be a proud Wal-Mart stock holder.  Just doing my part to help the poor ;-)

TCS Daily - Forget the World Bank, Try Wal-Mart

"Even without considering the $263 billion in consumer savings that Wal-Mart provides for low-income Americans, or the millions lifted out of poverty by Wal-Mart in other developing nations, it is unlikely that there is any single organization on the planet that alleviates poverty so effectively for so many people."

What's the difference between a nerd, a geek, and a dork?

I have personally been called all three of the below throughout my life but I would have to say the only one that is close to accurate is "Geek"  except for the whole biting heads off of chickens thing and as of yet nobody works under me.  I say "as of yet" b/c once my diabolical plan is complete the entire world will work for me... (to be said with an evil laugh following it)  Good ol' Yahoo always answering those deep hard hitting life questions.

Ask Yahoo:
What's the difference between a nerd, a geek, and a dork?

We've been called all three, and to be honest, we always assumed they meant the same thing. However, according to the cool kids, there are differences.

Official definitions for nerd, geek, and dork each use the words "inept" and "foolish." Nerds have the added distinction of being "unattractive." Ouch. While it's hard to argue with the dictionary, we sought out definitions from the Internet at large.

According to Whatis.com, nerds are people of above-average intelligence who place little importance on their appearance. Nerds are often aware of their status, but they don't mind. In fact, many take pride in the putdown, as it means they're smart and not wrapped up in superficial worries.

Geek is a more specific term. Back in the day, geeks worked at carnivals, and (according to the dictionary) "bit the heads off live chickens." Thankfully, the term now has a different connotation. Like nerds, geeks are smart, but they tend to focus more on technology. As Urban Dictionary explains, these are the people you make fun of in high school and later work for as an adult.

Being called a "dork" is the biggest insult of the three. There's no way you can spin it into something positive. After all, even the dictionary writes that dorks are "stupid" people. And to make matters worse, dorks assume they're cool. Oh, and they smell, too.

So, to sum things up, if someone calls you a geek or a nerd, thank them. If someone calls you a dork, consider going back to school and investing in some new deodorant.

A Rising Tide Lifts All Ships

OpinionJournal - Outside the Box
Rising Tide
Tax cuts are good for everyone--and everyone knows it but Washington Democrats.

Here are some quick quotes from this great article:

Mr. Bush signed the most recent tax cuts into law in the spring of 2003. In the past 33 months the size of America's entire economy has increased by 20%--or, as National Review Online's Larry Kudlow put it, "In less than three years, the U.S. economic pie has expanded by $2.2 trillion, an output add-on that is roughly the same size as the total Chinese economy."

In the 2 1/4 years before the 2003 tax cuts, economic growth averaged 1.1% annually; in the three years since it has averaged 4% per year, and in the first quarter of this year it was 5.6% on an annualized basis. Inflation-adjusted per capita GDP has grown 7.8% from 2003 through the first quarter of this year.

Incomes are up too. As Stephen Moore noted in The Wall Street Journal, "the percentage of Americans earning more than $50,000 a year rose from 40.8% to 44.2%" between 2002 and 2004. As for very wealthy families, the portion of total income "captured by the richest 1%, 5% and 10% of Americans is lower today than in the last year of the Clinton administration."

The evidence is so obvious and the conclusion that tax cuts are good for America is so apparent I can only surmise that the Democrats in Washington do not truly want what is best for our nation.

Email is the new snail mail

BREITBART.COM - E-Mail Losing Its Clout

"E-mail is so last millennium. Young people see it as a good way to reach an elder _ a parent, teacher or a boss _ or to receive an attached file. But increasingly, the former darling of high-tech communication is losing favor to instant and text messaging, and to the chatter generated on blogs and social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace."

-----

"...Adults who learn to use IM later have major difficulty talking to more than two people at one time _ whereas the teens who grew up on it have no problem talking to a bazillion people at once," Boyd says. "They understand how to negotiate the interruptions a lot better."

WMD's in Iraq?

Maybe this is the real reason so many want us to cut and run.  They are afraid we will find more of this.  So much for there not being any Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq.  I am sure this won't change anyone's mind though.  It is hard to see the truth with blinders on (or at least with a heart filled with hate for President Bush).

BREITBART.COM - Hundreds of chemical weapons found in Iraq: US intelligence

"Since 2003, Coalition forces have recovered approximately 500 weapons munitions which contain degraded mustard or sarin nerve agent," said an overview of the report unveiled by Senator Rick Santorum and Peter Hoekstra, head of the intelligence committee of the House of Representatives.

"Despite many efforts to locate and destroy Iraq's
pre-Gulf war chemical munitions, filled and unfilled pre-Gulf war
chemical munitions are assessed to still exist," it says.

The "Yuck" factor

Is it just me or does this sound really gross? " Test Tube Meat Nears Dinner Table

"To produce the meat we eat now, 75 (percent) to 95 percent of what we feed an animal is lost because of metabolism and inedible structures like skeleton or neurological tissue," says Matheny. "With cultured meat, there's no body to support; you're only building the meat that eventually gets eaten."

I think it would be hard to get past the "Yuck" factor.  Sheets of cultured meat doesn't sound very appetising

Who is losing the war?

Democrats talk about how we are losing the war in Iraq therefore we should cut and run (my paraphrase), disregarding the faulty logic it seems as though one person would disagree... al-Zarqawi!!

"As an overall picture, time has been an element in affecting negatively the forces of the occupying countries, due to the losses they sustain economically in human lives, which are increasing with time. However, here in Iraq, time is now beginning to be of service to the American forces and harmful to the resistance..."

He also talks about using the media to spread disinformation, but who would ever believe something like that could be done.

Here is the whole document. Very damning to the "cut and run we are losing in Iraq" crowd.

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/06/15/D8I8LJBG0.html

"Scientists respond to Gore's warnings of climate catastrophe"

I haven't had time to read this whole article yet, but it looks like a must read on Global Warming!

http://www.canadafreepress.com/2006/harris061206.htm

"when the wicked perish, there are shouts of joy"

I am reminded of this verse.

Proverbs 11:10  "When the righteous prosper, the city rejoices; when the wicked perish, there are shouts of joy."

Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi Killed in Air Raid

Jacob & Ethan at Fountain in Old Town

 

One more picture

What a perfect smile :-) 

Pictures at Exploration Place

This one in the dark is in the CyberDome where we watched a film on constellations. The rest of the pictures are from the playground.

 

Got a new car today.

Well it is a new car to me.  A 2000 Ford Focus SE, red 4 door.  It has hail damage and I have to bring it back on Tuesday for a few repairs but the price was right and any car that gets 35 MPG on the highway and 25-30 MPG in town is worth its weight in gold.  That is 2x's the mileage that our Explorer gets.  Anyway it will just be used as a back up and to get me to work and back so Jenny can still have a car. No picitures of it yet b/c we just got it over lunch and b/c it still needs to be cleaned up.

A Fascinatingly Sad Story

A story about a 210-pound 6-year old - Includes a picture
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | 'I like to be big'

"We should mention at this point that Dzhambik, who most of the time
looks at the floor, is really very fat indeed. His eyelashes are forced
upwards by the rolls of fat that are his eyelids. His thigh fat hangs
over his knees. His wrists look as if they have been swollen by bee
stings. When he walks down the stone staircase inside the school, it
thuds."

Moved Out But Not In.

Well it is 3:30 in the morning and I am laying in bed typeing this in our new house.  This has been the longest weekend of my life and it is only half way over.  We have moved out of the apartment but not exactly moved into the house.  Lots of stuff still packed into the Explorer and stuff sitting in the Garage.  In the morning we drive to GC to get the rest of our things from our old house so the renters can move in on Sunday and of course pick up the boys from Grandma's house.  I don't know if I have ever been this tired before in my life.  I don't know why I am typing this and not going to sleep.  I have a lot of funny stories about this whole adventure but I am too tired to tell any of them so maybe on Sunday night.  Goodnight...

BTW: I blew out my knee with all of this moving and so anyone that wants to help move some boxes out of our basement is welcome :-)

Conversation with a Spammer and other Ramblings

Conversation with a Spammer- A Securtiy company calls it quits basically b/c the Russian Mob threatens to spam them into oblivian.

It is interesting that people are still having this much of a problem with spam.  I have been using Gmail for about the last 8 months and it ROCKS.  It filters out 99% of my spam, so it goes straight to my spam folder and I never see it.  Even before that I was using SpamAssassin on my server and it did a pretty good job.  All of the spam that comes to my Gmail is from other accounts that I filter through it so I have one centralized place for my email. 

If you don't want spam DON'T PUT YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS ON THE INTERNET!!  And of course don't hand it out to people either, only give it to companies that you trust.  I don't get any email to my actual Gmail account.

Anyway i am just rambling about stuff.  Really I am too distracted to focus waiting for Jenny to pick me up so we can go work on the new house... She is taking forever!

We got it!

Signed on the house this afternoon.  Tonight we paint.  :-D

Two Boys Pretending

	Here is Ethan a few weeks ago pretending to be Bob the Builder.
	Here is Jacob with his engineer hat reading a Thomas the Tank Engine book

 

The Crazy House Buying Roller Coaster

The last 6 weeks have been a virtual roller coaster.  We have been trying to buy a house here in Wichita.  We thought we had to sell our house in GC first so it was a mad rush to get that done (even though we have been trying for the last 8 months).  When things fell through time and time again with that we finally gave up hope.  That was a good thing because then we were ok no matter what happened. 

Next, we discovered that we could rent the house in GC and that would enable us to get the house here.  On late Monday afternoon our friend Kent put up a "For Rent" sign for us, and we got 4 calls by the end of the day.  The next morning we got a few more and then the ad hit the newspaper and for the next week the phone was ringing off of the hook.  I know we got more than 60 calls and showed the house to dozens of people before we finally got a contract from someone with a deposit the next Monday.  That afternoon we went to the bank and finalized the paper work for the load and viola, we close next Wednesday, May 17th!

We are very excited to get into this amazing house and for the boys to have a backyard to play in whenever they want.  The backyard looks like a forest with all of the trees in it.  I love trees.

Thank you God for answering our prayers and making our dreams come true.  I feel completely unworthy for such a blessing!  From the beginning of the whole process He told us to trust him.  It was very very hard, because everything seemed to fall apart, over and over again.  It certainly wasn't Jenny or I that made this happen and God made sure that we knew it.  It is the perfect house for us in an amazing neighborhood at just the right time and I am thankful that we didn't sell our house in GC before because we would have settled for less.  Every other house we had picked out was in a much worse neighborhood and just going to be transitional.  This house is in a 0 crime, young family neighborhood with lots of kids and plenty of room to grow.

Heath

-- I am testing out this new blogger "Performancing" plug-in for FireFox (the best browser in the world by the way - get it and use it if you don't already have it!!) so we will see how well it works to post from it.

Strong is wrong

This is a great piece by Dave in Seattle from one of my favorite blogs the American Thinker about the liberal Democrat credo:

"The weak are good, and by definition have been victimized by the strong, who are therefore bad."

An Excerpt:

"Example: The Navy aided thousands after the tsunami: but it took them 3 days to get there, so they couldn't help everyone, and they are actually part of a propaganda effort trying to make the US look good, which is fundamentally not true, and therefore wrong.  Follow that?

In contrast, Canada was modest enough to do absolutely nothing of consequence as a country.  Canada, you see, is the very model of a "good" country: relatively weak and largely ineffectual, Canada almost oozes goodness.  Ask practically any Canadian, and they will tell you (and tell you, and tell you)."

http://americanthinker.com/comments.php?comments_id=4970

 

Politics and Morals

I just heard a caller on Rush make a excellent point.

He said that the Democrats will always politicize a moral issue and moralize a political issue.

For example, yesterday Hillary spews some crap about how stopping illegal immigration violates commands in the Bible and some completely ignorant point about Jesus being an illegal immigrant.  So she moralizes an issue that the Bible is actually silent on but "Thou shalt not murder" is completely ignored when it comes to Abortion because it is "a woman's right to choose".

hjh

Today at the zoo

A Few Things I Have been Up To Lately

Right now we are back in GC for the weekend.  I am writing this at my Grandma's house which is where we stay when we come back.  I haven't said much for a while because I have been so busy, so I thought I would get on and talk about what has been going on lately.

School Is Cool
I am back in school now.  I have am starting a degree completion program at Southwestern College in Computer Programming.  The classes are once a week, from six to ten and each class is 6 weeks long.  My first real class "Java I" started last week I think it is going to be really good.  I am excited about it and looking forward to it.  It should take about 2 years to finish the degree.  It is too bad that I didn't discover something that I really enjoy doing that I can make a decent living on until about 3 years out of college.  But I guess that is life.  I am just thankful for this opportunity that I have now.  I feel like it is a second chance for me and my family.  The company that I am working for plus Pell grants will pay for all of it, so far, including books!!  The only downside is that it is on Tuesday nights so I won't be able to go to the small group that Jenny and I have been going to.

Another Million Dollar Idea
Of course I can't go more than 6 months with out trying another million dollar idea.  The good news about this one is that it is a very minimal investment and it will also enable a hobby of mine which is collecting websites/domains for all of Kent and my other brilliant ideas (i.e. our online Christian bookstore www.depthoflife.com and out Christian Singles website www.seekingtheone.com)  not to mention things like my "I don't know what to do with it" website www.nattyman.com, right now it has fivefoottwelve stuff on it and our family homepage which I haven't updated since I started this blog, www.odsgc.net/~fiveft12).  Anyway the idea is, as you may have guessed a website hosting company www.digitalihost.com, with basic domain packages starting as low as $2.99.  The standard domain hosting package that I recommend is $6.99 (shameless plug for the search engines ;-).  I don't have too high of hopes for it, just enough to support my own habit, which it looks like it will do.  I already have several customers  :-)  Due to conflicts of interest though I won't host any websites from Garden City, except through The Paraclete Group, and I also won't host any CPA firms or other Tax related businesses.

Getting Older
My ten year class reunion is rolling around and we have started to organize it.  So far I am mainly working with Betsy and Katrina on it.  We have Labor Day weekend chosen for the event and the Fiesta Courtyard reserved for that Saturday night.  Right now we are trying to contact everyone digitally through email and our website www.buffsof96.com (another domain to add to the list above).  Here you can find the latest news and there is a forum where people from the Garden City High School class of  1996 can post updates on their life and connect with each other.  It has been going pretty well.  At this moment we have 49 people registered and about as many posts.

The Never Ending Story
We are still trying to sale our house in GC which is why we are here for the weekend.  We have lowered the price, advertising in the newspaper and having open houses every Sunday.  There has a been a really good response since we started advertising.  Today we had about 10 different sets of people come by to look at it.  Three of which seemed moderately interested and one that says if she can get the financing she is going to buy it!!  But we have heard the same story before so I am trying to not get my hopes up.  Hopefully though the never ending story will soon come to an end.  Another website to add to the growing list above is www.bluehouseforsale.com where you can read about our House in Garden City Kansas that is for sale.

Matt this update is for you.  I hope it is everything you ever dreamed of and more.  Sorry no pictures for now though.

Pictures of the boys.

Here are some pictures from our day at the zoo on Sunday and the boys first snowman that we made yesterday at lunch. Sorry the boys weren't very cooperative with the snowman picture. If you look real close you
can see Jacob and Ethan hiding from the bears in the cave ;-)

<*** Okay the pictures are actually up now. Sorry it took me so long to fix it ***>

Jesus Hugeri loves you

I thought this story was pretty funny.  It is from the Citizen Link Newsletter that I get everyday.
http://www.family.org/cforum/

-hjh

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Dog-Park Brick Refused Due to That Person with a Similar
Name

The town of Gilbert, Ariz., refused to place an inscribed
brick in a local dog park because officials say it had a
religious message, Independent Newspapers reported.

Bob Hugeri was glad to hear of a dog park being built near
his home, so much so, that he decided to purchase an
inscribed brick for $20 that would be placed in the park
as part of a display.

And he decided to honor his Labrador retriever, Jack Jesus
(pronounced "hay-soos").

His inscription was simple: "Jesus loves you."

"I thought everything was fine with the message," Hugeri
said. "A few weeks later I get a call informing me that
the inscription on the brick is unacceptable."

Greg Svelund, the town's public information officer, sent
back the application and the $20. An accompanying letter
said the message was inappropriate for a public park.

Gilbert has no specific policy that bans religious
messages on an item such as a brick in a public square,
but the staff made the decision to reject it.

"There's been a lot of attention across the country on
religious messages being displayed," Svelund said. "When
the brick came in, we struggled with it. I called Mr.
Hugeri and asked if he would use the message, 'Jesus
Hugeri loves you' instead, but he wouldn't accept it."

The mayor of the town, Steve Berman, told Hugeri that it
was a matter of separation of church and state.

"What kind of person names his dog 'Jack Jesus'?" Berman
said. "Frankly, I'm not falling for this 'hay-soos'
baloney. I don't want a brick with the inscription 'Allah
Akbar' either. He just wants to put the inscription 'Jesus
loves you' on the brick.  This is a religious message."

Peter de Marneffe, a philosophy professor at Arizona State
University, said the issue is complicated.

"The guy who wants the brick is responsible for the
message," Marneffe said. "The town itself is not endorsing
it. On the other hand, the town doesn't want to risk
litigation and wants to avoid controversy."

Hugeri said he thinks it's a violation of his right to
free speech.